The Homecoming...

Work has started and 1.5 months have passed since i joined. With a 6-day week hardly giving any breathing space, life had earnestly begun in the mean corporate sector. Each passing day added new survival and behavioral techniques to my repertoire. Suddenly out of whack, my placid lifestyle was shaken and I was asked to come along for a meeting to Hyderabad.

Now Hyderabad is one city that both Radhika and I have fallen madly in love with. The winding roads, the food options, the bustle of the city, the frequency of "awesome mausam" updates on FB etc and of course, ISB were some of the reasons for that. I needed no second thought to be convinced. However, the catch was that it was a touch and go trip and I was supposed to travel back to Chennai the same evening. Still, there was a silver lining to this entire thing. Radhika was supposed to go to Jaipur and coincidentally I was booked on the same flight! I got to give her a sendoff to Jaipur by accompanying her to Hyderabad, how many husbands get a chance to do this!!!

Nostalgia hit harder than the landing of the plane at Hyderabad airport and memories of driving up and down to the airport came rushing by accompanied in full Technicolor by all the sights, sounds, smells and background music that accompanied all the driving sprees on the bypass road from ISB to the airport. That is when things started to change...for good!

It was felt during the meeting that I needed to stay for one more day. In spite of not having any change of clothes, I jumped at the opportunity and immediately booked a room at ISB Exec Housing through Sushant who was on campus for a project. I just couldn’t believe my luck and was waiting eagerly like a little boy about to open the birthday presents, for the day to end and get a chance to slip in to a shade of my previous life.

It was just some days ago that Radhika and I had been thinking of ISB, the campus, the places, the parties, the friends and the countless memories and daydreaming about Solstice when we could actually be there and relive the whole thing and this happened. Even though the fun was halved with Radhika missing out on this but still, I think she was able to visit the campus through our conversations, as she sounded really happy when we talked!

I never thought that I would get so deeply attached to the campus in such a short span of time but the reality speaks so differently. To some extent I felt like an anxious parent, whose child has just left the nest and who wants to visit just to see that the child is taking care of himself and all is well. All such anxieties were laid to rest the moment I entered the campus for the first time as alum. The same warmth and familiarity enveloped me. The difference was that now I had access to the executive housing and it's famous bar ;)
You have to see it to believe it, the prices are rock bottom!!! Sushant and i watched the world cup match on big screen while generally chatting and then left for ‘Goel’.

Aahhh...Goel, the devil himself. A place everyone loves to hate...there were a few changes in the style and organization but the food was still the same! They have separated half of the dining hall exclusively for mini-meals...do I hear the end of the buffet? Probably...

The post dinner stroll around atrium revealed a site which was funny for me and totally scary for the current batch...it was the two DMOP submission boxes. The campus had no activity from the students side...guess they have all been caught up in DMOP, Markstrat, Compstrat and GLEC too deeply for their own good...hope they learn soon.

Even though I didn’t want to sleep and savor each moment, fatigue got better of me and eventually I crashed

Day 2:

Day 2 came bright and sunny. I could almost hear house"picking" come and knock on my door when reality swept in and I got up. The highlight of the day was the breakfast!!! After 2.5 months I got a chance to eat like a glutton again to the extent that it’s almost 5 in the evening now and there is no space to eat anything!

I walked around the campus on the ring road after walking down the steps towards SV3. Walking past the operations building, I saw that the ISB bull now actually stands guard to them. The boy with the stick appears to be a watchful enforcer, lest they run away before time. Moving around SV2, I recalled with Sushant, the names associated with the rooms from our section and batch. I saw F2 as well, as peaceful and welcoming as before and that is where I was convinced that the child is in safe hands.

Amidst all this, soon it was time to bid adieu, to the campus and the place.

As I sit at the airport waiting for my flight back to Chennai, trying to appear all grown up and sober, the child within me is craving for more. Yet, I feel contended and happy and I find myself looking forward to the next visit to the place where it all began...once more.