The crab comes outta the shell

They say be very careful what you wish for, it might just come true!
About Six months back I happened to watch the movie "Wake up Sid" and instantly my mental status ( and subsequently the one on Fb) went " I want to live on my own | I want a D40 and I want Ranbir! Though a DSLR I did actually get- just a tad better than the D40 at that ,and though there was no Ranbir Kapoor or close, here helping me get my way around like Konkana did , in a big bad city like Mumbai , finally I've moved out of my home, my comfort zone! And here I am, a month into living on my own in a city i had never even been to!

For someone as homebred as myself, who'd never been to a boarding school or experienced the "hostel/Pg life " before , and for the most part is a typical home loving Cancerian and somewhat a tad 'spoilt', this was a big change. First week, it was mixed feelings of being in a new city and at a first job coupled with homesickness and discomfort with a "sudden change in life, feeling lonely and lost. Living in the company guesthouse had its perks thanks to all the visceral conveniences .But the part when you came back home to an empty ,( though scaringly Clean) room after work and not to a house full of commotion, dogs running up/onto you or the smell of gingertea, a few minutes after your entry into the house did get depressing.Add to that a couple of major tech-disasters, the kinds I've come to associate with me at anytime, in a new city and sitting incommunicado with your phone and laptop dead on you a few days after the big move, not very comforting ! The homesick and slightly miffed me found myself on the next flight to home barely 3 days after moving out!
Well now one and half month later, I can't say I'm totally at home( pun intended) But the fact is I've made peace with the change. Though i'm almost done with the growing pains that a move like this ensues inevitably beginning with "finding a roof above the head' which in all fairness,thanks to the internet, it wasn't really a struggle . The part involving calling up someone about a house and being hung up on a " no we don't want a loan!" or going all the way to nooks and crannies of a strange city , juggling those menacing autowallahs who'd quote a fare like they were taking you to heaven or something, to meet complete strangers who you could be sharing a house with soon , did get intimidating....So was craving for your favourite cup of tea and discovering that there was no way to have it thanks to a tripped electricity supply and lack of a gas cylinder....

Now i can relate to all those "outstation" friends of mine who'd crave for "Ghar ka Khaana" and jump at every opportunity to be invited over to a "home" or consider my family as their own...But I guess these are the very things that test your true mettle as living on your own and make you appreciate the much-neglected fact that starting a life from scratch and running a house that we've been taking for granted for years is not an easy job. I can't help feel a little proud that I've done it. Out on a limb. Have gotten a house and in the process of getting into the finer domestic requirements which include negotiating and buying a 300Rupees mattress which would work as a makeshift bed, or doing up my small humble space, my way, in the house I'll be sharing with people who're not family ( yet) ,setting up a small kitchen with a "Single burner Cylinder", taking care of the bills , a far cry from the airconditioned, haute decor , hedonistic life, back home ....The feeling of independence is empowering ...

It was almost an amusing feeling , when out clubbing with a bunch of colleagues the other night when I found myself checking on the time every now & then and almost hitting "dad" to tell him I'd be late and then smiling and also feeling rather sad at the fact there was actually noone waiting anymore :). The crab is surely out out of the shell, exploring the vast stretch of unfamiliar land before it's tough exterior and sensitive interiors...