The Reluctant Delhite

I moved to Delhi a month back with a new job, and it has been interesting thus far. I have always wanted to stay in this ancient city and experience its many quirks, so it goes without saying that I’d never have left the region without acquiring a taste of it. I say region because I’ve been staying in Gurugram for the past two years, we’ll come back to that later. Currently I’m in Lajpat Nagar, a middle and hard working class neighbourhood with the majority of the population made up of Punjabis and Afghanis, don’t ask how that mix happened, I’m yet to put my finger on it.

The new job, the main reason behind all these simultaneous changes, is with a speciality PR agency, one of the finest in India. The shift from business and corporate news to PR, contrary to popular opinions, has been a smooth one, enough for me to be cautious. I leave the rest to time. The work is voluminous, but I enjoy the feeling of having actually earned my salary. It may sound weird but the idea of being the most productive and very easily so in any scenario is unsettling, a good race is always healthy. This is important when you come from nothing and the idea of losing everything is real.

Many olds, many news

I’m back to staying on my own after two years, or Bengaluru, and I like it. The sheer pleasure of coming back home after a long day and shutting the world behind me, even if it’s for a few hours, is precious! Needless to say, the independence comes with its cost in form of back-breaking chores every weekend but the idea of having a tiny household is worth it. Moving to Delhi ahead of winter has made the transition easy, and I hope to make the most of the season before summer sets in. The city in winter is brilliant, it’s like a three-month long party where subtlety is blasphemy. Delhi!

Personal life continues to be non-existent, with momentary distractions filling the vacuum. But I wouldn’t have it any other way, it has taken me long to start liking myself and I plan to play along for a while till I have to give in to some cosmic trap, one always does. Additionally, I like to believe that I have grown quite a bit over the past year, amended my ways of dealing with the world. To put it simply, I have learned to preserve my f*cks, rather than scattering them all around. More importantly, I have accepted that people are different and so should be there destinies. Hence, I’ll behave but that’s about it.

Moving ahead

Every beginning marks an end, represented here by my leaving the past job and also moving out of Gurugram for good. The job, with a very prestigious global publication, fell short of my humble expectations, let’s just keep it that. This too perhaps was a part of the divine conspiracy, everything is after all. As for Gurugram, the only thing I’ll say is that I have no memory of it, good or bad, and that churns a feeling of incredible waste. I had a difficult time in Chennai, but I have memories of the place. Gurgaon feels like a huge characterless and shallow pit where I was stuck for a time and now I’m out of it.