LORD OF THE MINDS

As the 9:15 am Jet Airways flight (which was delayed 15 mins due to some idiots who turned up late at the check-in counter) turned to face the runway and start its run towards the sky, towards its destination - Kolkata, my eyes fell upon the words “Bangalore International Airport” and I closed my eyes, tired and somewhat moist. Somehow I felt empty, somewhere there was a void.
36 days ago when the GD/PI results for Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM Lucknow) came out, I was overjoyed. They were published the day before but I didn’t have the courage to look them up (yeah... I too can be scared at times, especially when it’s a life changing event). Moreover the site was unstable and results inconsistent. So I waited a night to see my results. It turned out to be the second longest night of my life (The longest being the night before my CAT exam). My roommate Navoneel was the one to tell me the good news. In a split second, my life had changed. No more was I a struggler. I had made it. I had fulfilled my dream. I had triumphed, finally. What made the news even more sweet was that my childhood friend – Adarsh had made it to IIML too (We were in the same class in high school too. So we were going back to school, albeit a b-school, together).
The celebrations had started before that. We had had an amazing IPL match outing (even though Kolkata Knight Riders lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore, overall the match was fun) in mid-April. That was followed by a crazy Loyola Reunion which included beer, tequila and marijuana (kudos to GVS for that). I bet we ‘took it to the next level’. But things went berserk after the 29th.
The month that followed included trips to Hard Rock Cafe (one on a Thursday to watch a live band performance... awesome \m/), numerous movies (mostly the Friday 10PM show at Big Cinemas), countless lunch/dinner parties (especially the one at Koshy's), my first birthday party where I didn’t touch alcohol and had vegetarian food (veg. food can be lovely too), my career-best performance at Amoeba bowling (right after my career-worst performance), some lovely cooking at home (we made Chicken curry one Sunday afternoon), farewell parties with amazing gifts (that show-piece was beautiful, thanks guys) and fantabulous IIML achievers and alumni meets. I don’t know how it could have been better.
Then the time came to bid goodbye to MindTree. I had prepared 5 versions of my ‘bbye mail’ and even a video of my days at Cadence (my last project in MindTree). Last day included some tearful moments (from the girls of my project who saw the video and the mail) and some hurting ones (from the last day bumps that is). I surrendered my tag and finally lost my MindTree Mind status. At that moment, I didn’t know whether it felt good or bad, but somehow it felt very different.
So, now I am at the 'Bengaluru International Airport', waiting; waiting for my flight to Kolkata; waiting for the journey that I had planned to make long time ago; waiting to end a phase of my life (so that I can start a new one); waiting for a 'change' in my life. But somehow a part of mine didn't want to make that trip, partly because of the fear of torturous weather which I later get to know in Kolkata was atrocious, partly because of the wonderful party life I was enjoying in Bangalore (How I wish I could have had more... :( ) and partly because of.... I don't know! Am I missing something or am I missing someone?