To chilly mornings and sarees

December 29, 2021

To chilly mornings and sarees

It's the end of 2021 and I'm back with a bang. After almost a year and a half finally I am back in Bangalore. A lot went through all of us. Coronavirus has affected us and work from home has granted us the privilege to stay back at our hometowns. We were surviving in the third space, i.e; the internet space. Well, we still are. Our homes turned out to be our office rooms and stepping out of our homes was a strict no for all of us. Like me, many of us had the pleasure of going back to our hometowns and spend some quality time with our family. Staying back at home had its own pros and cons and we survive to narrate the best memories that we created.

Me and my husband grew up in middle class Bengali households, and staying in Kolkata after so long and for so long made us pine to go back and find our own selves. Deaths, births, happiness, sorrow lined up for this one and half year. At the end of the long vacation at home, I simply wish good health to all my friends and family. The pandemic taught us a lot about life. I learnt a lot. It's easy to take people for granted, moments for granted. However, once they are gone, they never re-appear. The easiest lesson one can get after facing a pandemic in this lifetime is to wish for good health for all the people in the world and to cherish what you have in the present, because kal ho na ho.

Corona affected us all. Nevertheless, my husband and in laws were excluded of the list. (My brother and sister-in-law were also affected, though.) Maam Di left us for her heavenly abode, Jhumpu left for Amsterdam for her higher studies. And, we, after living together for a year, left for Bangalore and Mumbai, respectively. (My brother and sister in law lives in Mumbai).

On the 15th of November, 2021, we landed in Bangalore after 36 hours of unpleasant journey from Kolkata. Within 2 months, I am sitting here at Jain University, Bangalore, employed as an assistant professor of English after submitting my thesis after a prolonged period of 6 years. I leave my home every morning in a saree everyday. Oh! wearing a saree is a must for faculties in this university. I am employed and I am enjoying it. Taking a trip down the memory lane, when I joined my first job in Bangalore, it was equally stressful, annoying and boring for me. Nevertheless, I always wanted to come back to Bangalore and settle in this city. Waking up every morning and wearing a saree before I come to the campus is a headache for me. Yes, I miss my home and the people there. Staying away from home has turned out to be my habit and making this new city my home is now a task laid before me. Here's to a new start, a new life.

Here are some of the snaps taken during our stay at Kolkata. In case I misplace any of these snaps, this blog will carry it forever.