From b to B

Chapter 1

*Alarm rings*

It’s 5:00 am. Time to wake up. Time to prepare. Time to leave.

Luckily, the previous night everything was packed. My ever-so-restless mom sacrificed her sleep and packed all my stuff in. I could never understand why whenever I packed my bags it looked like a laundry-to-do bag and her’s didn’t.

I coudn’t find my lighter. Mom doesn’t know that I smoke. Let’s keep it that way. Although, she had caught me, with a stench, a significant stench that smokers reek of. However, because of a clean past record I was let go owing to a benefit of doubt.

The clock struck 10:00. Breakfast ? Basically one of the three best hours of the day where there is food for my soul and more of photographs for my Instagram page. I was sad. It had been just a week I was back from a two year haul at Delhi where I successfully, shockingly and fortunately completed my PGDM. I was going to Bangalore, a new city, to dwell in a humble uni-bhk with my elder sibling who had been there for three and a half years by then.

I missed Gurgaon, the friends that I had made, for life. It was a whole new life to begin with. I was supposed to get a job there. Everyone seems to have this very same purpose in life. I remember being asked about dream companies and organisations that I would like to work for, during mock interviews. And I used to ponder as to who the hell in their right minds, dreams about MNCs ? I knew I didn’t. I know I never will.

However, the flight schedule read 3:00 pm and I just had a couple of hours left. I checked everywhere but failed to find my lighter. Airport Security forbids you to carry such prohibited items.

My bags weighed a tonne and I knew I had to shed some money at the airport to get them through. And then I did. My wallet was empty with just enough money in my account.

Bagdogra Airport is a military air-base in itself and being a domestic airport, the checking carried out at the security counters are detailed and frustrating. I had a lot of electronic items in my backpack which I had to reveal at the security counter. However, my bag was detained. The scanner showed a small metallic object to be present in the bag, but not found under a physical search. It was later found in the water-bottle slot in the bag. My favorite lighter was now detained which I had previously managed to get through security during my travel to and from Delhi, Kolkata.

It was a one-break flight. Bagdogra - Kolkata - Bangalore. I made it to Kolkata without my lighter. I didn’t realise what made me upset more, leaving home or losing my lighter. At the Kolkata International Airport, things went a bit smoother for there were multiple security checking counters. It was dusky by then. Seat 3A, window side seat and clouds. The day seemed to be ending on a better note than it started. The flight took off. I could smell Ready-to-eat noodles but had no cash, just a debit card and no swipe-machine on the plane. Great. Within an hour of the journey the pilot warned us of turbulence, ahead on the route. I found that the sky was clear. Suddenly, the airplane dropped a few meters. I realised that the pilot was just keeping a promise. Since, he promised us a turbulence, he gave us one. As we were about to enter the Bangalore airspace I just had an epiphany on what all had I done in life, a bit of good things and a lot of bad ones, sadly. I realised all the people that have impacted my life and those on whom I had mine. Suddenly, the tragedy of a lost lighter didn’t matter anymore, nor did the titillation of a palate induced by the smell of ready-to-eat noodles. All that mattered was me, in that moment, moving ahead in life. I was perhaps greeted by Bangalore with a drizzle which later turned into an ugly blend of a witchy shower and thunderstorms. I booked a cab through a number provided to me by the sibling’s friend. The rain caused a heavy traffic. In Coldplay’s words,

“Call it traffic,, call it truth. And I just got broken, coz I’m tired too. Still I call it traffic, there’s not much to do.”

After an hour and half of a cab ride I made it to my sibling’s place because apparently, Bangalore Airport is so close to the city, you could just see it over the shoulder. For the sarcasm-sensor deprived. This was indeed, sarcasm.

It’s been about a month now, the food is good, the place is happening, the power-cuts and the traffic is bad.               

Not a bad place to live, Bangalore.

From bengal to Bangalore

With love

Abhishek Paul