“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost
“Ring ring ring ring ……“, the alarm blared out at six-thirty in the morning. Opening my eyes to the slow rumbling of tracks under me, reality started to creep back to me from my fanciful slumber. On a train towards a new life, the last leg of my long journey from home. This is the story of how my life as a journalism student begins.
Coming from Kolkata more than a thousand miles away I didn’t know what to expect in my new life as a first year student of Manipal Institute of Communication or as most call it affectionately MIC. So anyway at about twelve-thirty that afternoon I arrived at Mangalore station caught a cab and headed for the small town of Manipal on the edge of the famous Western Ghats of India. On reaching my home for the next three years I was greeted by a rain soaked quiet town surrounded by a carpet of green as far as the eye could see, a stark contrast to the concrete jungle I grew up in. It was a refreshing change and I actually stood taking in the surroundings when abruptly and rather rudely my dad nudged me along asking me to quit day-dreaming and get a move along towards the apartment.
Later that day after a rather annoying lunch with my father explaining to me how this is a new and more independent chapter of my life and I should be more responsible and all the mumbo jumbo designed to keep our curious minds at bay and follow the strict norms of society, I decided to explore this new home and also a welcome relief from my father’s constant lectures. Roaming around this town the one thing I quite readily imbibed was its peaceful and demure nature. Being a calm and composed person myself I felt at home quickly. The greenery and fresh air coupled with the slight almost tickling drizzle of rain was the icing on this peaceful cake I was so eagerly devouring.
Wandering about I stumbled upon this place the natives call “End point”. Standing in the garden towards the edge of a cliff face overlooking the ghats, the enormity of this vast green expanse sprawled out in front of me left me speechless- staring almost ogling at mother nature’s beauty. The earthy smell of rain rising from the soil mixed with the myriad of flower scents was intoxicating me and mesmerized by this charm I was held spell bound for moments I couldn’t or cared to count. Thoughts of what someone had told me back home drifted into my mind- “It’s a new place don’t panic you will adjust soon just hang on …” – Gibberish, I felt completely at one with this new surrounding that made me feel really happy and washed away all sense of apprehension I had about my choice of coming all this way from home to pursue my graduation.
Finally I meandered my way back to the apartment, a little soaked but completely satisfied with a wide smile on my face. Dad noticing this almost metamorphic change in me from the passive and lost person I was all through the journey asked me “will you miss us son?” to which I replied I most definitely would, further he asked would I miss home and almost without thinking I answered from my heart- “I am home..."
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