Another COVID story

As I was travelling in the half-empty Mumbai suburban local, many thoughts came up in my mind.

“Will I ever see Mumbai again?” (Eventually I did)

It was March 23 and Maharashtra was becoming a hotspot of COVID.

A day before I booked my flight for my hometown-Dehradun. Life never felt so slow-paced in Mumbai. The train, which was always filled with people more than its capacity, felt empty.

I was never fascinated about Mumbai as many people in my college did but the city makes you a different person.

I was a software engineer in Gurgaon having a comfortable life, enjoying the perks of corporate life. Coding, testing became a part of my life which I never enjoyed.

“Should I quit the job?” I asked myself.

I have been in this dilemma for so many times but never got the courage to implement it.

“It has been two years,” I sighed.

Whenever I felt this conflict of quitting the job, I used to watch ‘Tamasha’, one of my favourite films. Watching ‘Tamasha’ takes me down the memory lane when I had different ambitions in life. Unlike Ranbir Kapoor, I was very good at studies and like everybody, I opted for Science.

I enjoyed studying science. It was fascinating, innovative and logical. Being the topper of the class, my teachers were full of praises for me.

“But life changes once you exit the school gate,” said one of my teachers.

It did happen. Life changed.

I was pursuing engineering but something always bothered me.

“Do I really want to do it?”

With this question, I completed four years of engineering. I was not bad at it. But I never enjoyed it. The grades matched my hard-working attitude and I continued to get my scholarship for four years.

During college, I was more involved in extracurricular activities than performing new experiments. I was a part of a drama club, participated in sports and organized many conferences. Apart from that I visited Delhi’s historical monuments, ate the finest street food at Chandni Chowk and trekked in Uttarakhand and Himachal.

After four years of college came the corporate life which was quite fascinating at first but it didn’t work out well.

After completing two years of corporate life, I decided to quit and this time I did it. I moved to Mumbai to pursue a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication.

And this felt right.