The beginning of something new.. :): Someone to open the doors

It has been quite a few years now, since I have started staying away from home. It all began with college- a completely new world, new city, new people and new faces. I had to move away from my home city and practically start a new life filled with everything out of the blue. Hostel - a place where there is no mom to wake you up and say- "Hurry, get dressed fast, or you'll get late for school", no loving grandparents to let you have what ever you want that is restricted by your parents, and no siblings to randomly pick up a fight for the control over the TV! Heavens! There is hardly time to watch TV itself!! And of course, no little puppies barking and jumping madly as soon as they hear you arrive and dance around you and come to lick you all wet, there's no excuse remaining for not taking a shower then! The first few days in hostel were quite dull - what with your own homesickness, and to top it, other girls around you with the same mood and some even crying out!

The first few weeks went by getting to know different people (some of whom were to be friends for a life time, just I you never thought it would be them! :P), adjusting to the new environment and trying really hard to wake up by the ring of the alarm, dressing up real fast and getting just in time to have breakfast and in class so to occupy my seat so I wouldn't have to end up in the first benches!

Friends, fun, classes, studies, bunking, assignments, canteen, and the dreaded of all - EXAMS!! All these were the new routine, not that I didn't have them earlier, the difference here was, I was on my own! The little birdie had flown out of the nest finally! Night outs were most common during end-sem exam weeks and the euphoria at the end of each one was inexplicable! That just became one more subject you did not have to worry about, for life! (That is with conditions apply- Only if you were sure you wouldn't land any supplementary! :P) And at the end of the horrible exam path lay the lovely bed of roses - the holidays! Something everyone badly waited for! Just to rush back to the loving and caring warmth of home, the place were food means actual proper food - "THE" happy place now.

It was the end of the first semester and I had my tickets all booked in advance, bags packed on the last day of the exams, and was all ready to leave, bidding my friends good byes and "see-you after the holidays" greets. It was a night journey on the train, so I would be home early next morning, not wanting to waste any part of the holiday staying in hostel. I stepped on to the platform with my bags and was filled with nostalgia - the smell, the noise, the din and the hurry - of the city I had practically spent my entire life till a few months back. Dad was waiting for me and we drove home - the ride filled with me narrating how the exams had gone by, how I hoped next sem I would not have the same teacher, how excited I was to eat simple mom-made food - and this was all at 4:00 AM in the morning!

I reached home and while dad was parking the scooter, I rushed to just get to the door! I was quite surprised to see my grandma (Dadima) was already standing at the door (She had gotten up early by an hour, just to greet me at the door!) She immediately hugged me and said "My little darling is back home!" It was simply bliss to be there at that moment. And of course Julie barking madly and starting her licking! (The little puppy that was featured a while back - the same! ;) ) That moment filled me with the warmth of love and care and of course puppy boogies (never mind that), be it a human or a puppy - all my loved ones just wanting me to be back home, to be re-united and to make the family complete again. It is times like these, when you feel that you are unconditionally loved and cared for - there are truly some things that money can't buy!

Semesters flew by, I graduated from college, got a job, moved to a new city, started again with a new life and luckily the best buddies I had in college, were with me in the same company and city and became my new flatmates now! Lots of things changed, but one thing that remains unchanged till date, is that the doors are always open with a smiling Dadima, waiting for me to be back home - a moment I eagerly look forward to - now and forever! :)