The Great Indian Voyage Contd. (1)

Bangalore … oops! “Bengaluru”

From Mumbai, I set my rudder for Bangalore. For, there lives my life, my sweetheart – Shamu. It was 4 days of utter bliss in the lush environs of the IIMB campus.
Somehow, people tell me that certain sounds or smells take them back to a particular place or time. Like for example, for me, the song “When Johnny goes marching home again” takes me back to the December of 2004 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The instant – and I literally mean – the instant I hear that song, my mind snaps back to my roomies and me listening to this song walking up to the Raleigh railway station catching a train to DC.

For me, the reverse too holds true though. That is, over the last 4 years, certain places or locations have been linked in my brain to the sweet moments I’ve spent with Shamu. May be because there are just so few times we get to spend together that my brain sort of grabs on to those moments. Like for example, the “E Square Mall” in Pune takes me back to my first date with Shamu – the silly photo we took at the computer booth and my first movie with her. Similarly, the IIMB campus is intricately linked for me to the awesome time spent with Shamu. Our walks in the campus, cheering her in her throwball match, those awesome dinners together, fighting over the last piece of Domino’s Cheeseburst pizza… :) it just brings a smile to me… unconsciously, unknowlingly.

Now, this place has an infectious vibrancy that only youth can produce. I admit I haven’t been able to make close friends with her gang of friends out there, but I was enthralled nevertheless by how energetic these bunch of people are.

This time around though, my time here was spent talking endlessly about the wedding, our jobs, the honeymoon, and since we both are B-school grads, about the current sucky situation of the economy as well. It was so refreshing to speak my heart out… be myself, not worry about how anyone is judging me, how I have to impress someone with my talk. Even when we had some fights (it is inevitable guys, it’s the Zeroth Law of Relationship – I shall expound on the Laws of Relationships in my upcoming blogs) this time around, it was so mature, so calm, so real and with great understanding.

And well, then it was our first Valentine’s day together… :)

It always surprises our friends when I tell them that Shamu and I have been in a relationship for 4 years now and yet, we’ve never had a Valentine’s day together. I was always in the US on Feb 14th and she was in India. This is long distance relationship for you. On some level, I think staying apart from your girlfriend and still loving her truly brings out your love. I know Barney Stinson (from the How I Met Your Mother) would scoff at it, nay, he would for sure say: “True Love! Isn’t it that extinct thing from 1850’s?” :)) But yes, when you are meeting your girlfriend every day, you are infatuated about looks, romantic gestures, silly couply things. Not to say that these are unimportant, but long distance relationship makes you spell out to your own self why you love a girl.

So, coming back to our Valentine’s day. I’d picked a theme of flowers, all day through, when she least expected, I brought her bouquets of flowers….. it was too sweet to watch her smile that day. Dinner at Le Meridien just made it a perfect evening. But the sweetest moment of the day for me was when Shamu gifted me a photo book she made herself of all our pictures and stories. The best gift I ever got!

Now, I don’t deal in clichés often, but, all good things do come to an end. With a heavy heart and longing eyes, I packed my bags. “Next Stop New Delhi!”