Butterflies and Hurricanes

There is absolutely no excuse for writing after three months. Except that I’ve been happily occupied. And confused and restless. Like a normal 20-something should be. Except that I’m not normal. But that’s beside the point.

So, out of the barrage of new information I’m going to spill here, seeing that I’ve crawled back to this space after so long, the most significant out of them is the fact that I’m now a 24-year-old woman.

Twenty-friggin-four. I keep repeating it as if it is going to make any difference to my escalating age graph. It’s sad that I haven’t written in so long, but to be honest, I’ve been really busy lately. No, really. Which is both a good, and a bad thing.

My last un-hitched cousin got married, which means, *shriek* I am the only one who is left. Eeeeep! There are at least three more years to go, so relax. Even the thought of wedding bells makes me want to puke and faint at the same time. Anyway, I DID manage to look drop dead gorgeous, as promised. I did manage to flaunt my elegance in a classy, non-resplendent saree with a gorgeous, dori-wala blouse. I also managed to dance in a baraat during zero visibility, when it was barely 2 degree Celsius and when the only way to not freeze to death was to keep your body moving. I spent some much-needed family time and relaxing time and thinking time, and caught up with all the cousins. It’s nice to know you’re part of one big family, no matter how dysfunctional or messed up it may be. Even though the madness of it makes you want to run away from them as far as possible sometimes, it’s heartening to know there is a permanent place in a corner of the planet which is etched for you where you can go when you want.

Christmas time in office was surprisingly and amazingly fun. It is instances like these where I sometimes believe there is innate goodness in all of us. The little surprises, gifts and notes used to be enough to add a spark and buzz to every day. My secret Santa turned out to be my boss, who showered me with the most thoughtful gifts.

Another big event was our convocation. Which meant flying back to the campus and meeting all the faces who had shared that beautiful hill with me. It also meant house parties and lots of catching up. Which would have also ideally meant lots of pictures in the black robes with our hats flying in the air. But our college and its rules. Ugh, let’s not get into that. Anyway, we are officially post-graduates now. Which feels damn good 🙂 It was all in all, a fantastic end to a transformational year.

The last two months, however, were unexpectedly like those halcyon times that you know you will always remember when you’re going through one of those classic mid-life crises. Like a concentrated cylinder filled with oxygen for one of those times in life when you feel like you’re drowning. Does that make sense? Let me try again.

Work used to be just that. Work. Office was fun at times, and after-office hours meant watching a TV show episode, having dinner, reading a bit and sleeping. Along came Mr. Ben for a two-month long internship. He was my junior in college, but we hadn’t ever really talked. Except about music, and ants, and such. Man, he redefined my entire work-life. Weekdays were not weekdays anymore. They were a vacation. Having him around was like … How do I put it? You know when you’ve been eating vanilla ice-cream your whole life and then somebody suggests you try some hot chocolate sauce on it? Then you do, and your taste buds explode with amazement and happiness and you think, “Why didn’t I ever try this before?!” But how could you? You didn’t even know something like that could exist!

I don’t know how to describe what it was like. We had fun at work, we had fun after work, we had fun even when we stood next to a stinking drain or when we were stuck in a seemingly endless traffic jam. We had fun when he rode his bike (Cherry) in the pouring rain and made futile attempts at avoiding puddles so big they made us feel like we were jet skiing instead of riding. We had fun when there was a mountain of work and we divided it between ourselves and gave each other deadlines and stern looks. We had fun when we went for random movies at random hours and fought for penguins at Mc. Donald’s. We had fun when we played pranks on people, when we explored all those obscure places all over Whitefield, and settled for only those that “felt right.”

We went out for drinks after those long, hard days of work, we shared our insecurities over chilled mugs of beer and smiley faces, we had paddus and laughed our asses off in a goddamn supermarket and we ran out of office like little kids do when school gets over. We went for late night coffee and played Scrabble. We shared kiddie pictures and laughed like there’s no tomorrow. We played our favourite music at work, we crossed roads blindly without looking, we had a million breakfasts together and we were just.. there. We were there and we were happier than ever. You know how I keep saying people come into our lives for a reason?

I wish there was some way I could pack even a semblance of what it was like in this one blog post. But I can’t. It was too good, too happy, too spurt-worthy and too real to ever be expressed in its entirety. Peco’s. Kapoor’s Cafe. Purple Haze. A2B. Hyper City. Phoenix. Forum. Bake Master. Beer Street. Herbs & Spices. Udupi. Adda. The stairs. Golconda Chimney. Backbenchers. Even that damn Dominus. Where do I begin and where do I end?

The only thing I would want to say is, it is not easy going back to plain vanilla. It sucks. Every time I pass by a place where we’d been to (which is ALL the places to and from work, and beyond), a happy memory of us flutters by and makes me realize how lonely it can be to be working in a big, blubbering, buzzing city. But I am happy that we shared a time that neither of us will forget. And I made a friend for a lifetime. It isn’t easy meeting someone you can be open and honest to. Heck, it isn’t easy meeting someone you even enjoy talking to. And I thank my stars I was fortunate enough to meet someone like you. We will never be ants, Bensicle. I miss you so much. Thank you for the memories :’)

Now, as the New Year begins, there are crucial decisions to be made, important questions to be asked and difficult things to be figured out. Having spent one of the best weekends with Chattu, gorging on the tastiest spaghetti I’ve ever had, watching endless Coke studio videos and going to the best cafes in the city, I have a feeling this year is going to be wonderful.

2015, be nice. I’m counting on you.

P.S. Tomorrow is a big day for me. But as somebody put it, “I’m a strong, independent hamster.”

Wish me luck!