Life in a metro??

You keep running on a train.. In "Rajani Kanth style"… outrunning the frictional forces and other "physics stuffs"… and boom…!!

You have been awoken… and you realize… "Of course.. It was a dream! But how did my sleep get disturbed"???

Mad at the source of disturbance.. trying to wake yourself up properly to do the "Root cause analysis".. With a thought of “this wouldn’t have happened if I had stayed back with my parents in my native…Uff!”.. You can hear the murmur of gals… trying to keep their voices low while fighting for their bucket to be filled with hot water…

You can hear the warden trying to play the "umpire" role with an occasional warning not to wake up the sleeping ones (which of course didn't work)

Somewhere in between.. you can hear the coffee kettle letting out a sharp scream.. Waiting to be let down from the stove . In the distance you can hear an ambulance screeching its way… a kid in the next building trying to engulf anything and everything in his text book (by reading out loud of course)… while his mother is preparing breakfast/lunch (The pressure cooker adding its musical chorus to all this!)

Your room mate is trying to resolve issues with her husband/BF who stays at the other end of the world…. While you expect a good night sleep!?! HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY HAVE ONE???

Well… It’s when you realize that the city is screaming at you… "Welcome to Metro!" (where… the tagline.. ”Bangalore-city that never sleeps” goes beyond and says.. ”and lets no one else in it sleep too!”)

The movie "life in a metro" portrayed so many things.. But it was still incomplete… coz apart from countless dreams and endless emotions… you also have unfinished sleep (almost always!), Un-eaten breakfasts (which don’t deserve to be eaten),  Un-readable expressions (still unable to figure out whether someone is being sarcastic.. or friendly.. or none of it!).. Unsettled life (there are thousands of other single people..Way better than you!)… And of course… an unfinished project (If you are in the corporate world.. there is at least one project which is in the “pending” stage) : D.. Loads of “Un’s” there seem to be!

This is the time when you realize that life as a single gal in a city like Bangalore… well.. It doesn't start with "suprabhatam" and end with a peaceful dinner… but.. It does start with fights for hot water and end with fight for the remote control (where everyone end up watching what the warden wants): D. Funny enough.. But it’s a routine we are happy to deviate from now and then with a Sunday popping in between our working days… (Only if there is not a compensatory working issue waiting…)

It’s a city with heights of everything…!! It gives you money.. but it also has pickpockets who can rob you of it the next moment!.... it gives you life.. But rips off your soul sometimes!... it gives you reasons to celebrate.. but it does take away the joy of sharing it with others!

I remember reading a quote “For those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel like home.” .. And I have! I do feel @ home in places such as described above.. coz no matter how irritating it is to get our sleep disturbed… no matter how our moods get disrupted coz of the petty fights every morning… We still come back from a horrible day @ work… and we get to see that there are whole bunch of others who have had the same (or sometimes even worse) laughing that off! And that’s the best feeling… Not to feel alone: p

Apart from the fights.. I have had my share of fun here too… Be it the wonderful feeling of having a great New Year party when I thought I would have to spend it alone (again!)… or the best feeling of everyone peeping into your room to just check whether you are feeling ok or not… It’s very nice to listen to stories of everyone…from the students sharing their college stories to the professionals sharing their stories of secret love.. and the married people who are trying to make a mark of their own by staying away from home. It’s a great feeling!! People come and go.. and not always are we told about it but if we are.. we make sure to give them a warm farewell.. Silently hoping they would never have to enter another hostel again (except for surprise visits to chat with us of course! )

It’s a different feeling… To listen to the warden giving a detailed description of all sorts of “masala” added incidents that happen while we were away… the talks of girls from next room discussing their lives.. and we lying on our beds… trying really hard to listen anything we can!.... the best times of spending on lavishing dinners at the beginning of the month while claiming that a bhel puri shall fill our appetite during the month ends… The endless struggle to save our things from getting stolen to the crazy mid night maggi’s when we get unusually hungry!

No one and nothing can ever match that! Its similar and maybe better than getting married! :)