Memories from the golden years of my life (2)

Caution : You may find some of the things below as absurd ... but I have not cooked them up. All of these are real emotions that I went through.

We slept early in the train. Since it was summers, so we had taken a normal sleeper class ticket. It was raining. Now this rain has a great significance for me. When it was the first day of term 5 in engineering, it rained that day. Papa always used to accompany me till the bus stop when I was in engineering. That day I was cribbing to papa that it did not rain while I was at home but started raining the very first day of a new term. At that time papa mentioned, "Aise occasions par baarish bhagwaan ka aashirwaad hoti hai". And I topped for the first time in DCE in term 5.

In 2003, my didi (bua) passed away. When we were taking her away to the cremation ground, on our way we took her to Sindhu Samaj, the temple where she had served all her life, it rained the moment we placed her on the temple steps. Later in a conversation which mummy had with Raju didi (one of our relatives), I came to know that its like heavens are showering flowers on you when it rains.

You might be wondering what am I talking about. But the point to be noted here is IT RAINED, the day i left my home to find a new home. May be these were God's blessings in disguise. May be this was an indication from the God that these two years would make me what I am today and what I will be tomorrow. May be I had taken a right decision after all ....

We reached Lucknow Station. Lucknow Mail always arrives and leaves Lucknow at platform no. 1. It is a VIP train for Lucknow though may not be for Delhi. We got into an auto rickshaw. Already from my conversations with seniors on yahoo group (on which I had spammed so much), I knew that there was a prepaid counter and they charged Rs. 135 for an auto and Rs. 200 for a taxi. The auto travelled fast and within 25 minutes we had left the city. Within next 5-7 minutes, we entered 3.4. Now this is a road from where IIM L is 3.4 kms away. There is also a music band by the same name in HelL. On our way towards IIM L, there were (in fact are) many a boards containing preachings. One of them that was close to the institute was

"Learn to become a man of character, and not a man of success"

Finally we reached MY HOME for two years and a beautiful memory for life. The entry gate made of grey stone was magnificent and there was IIML printed by purple flowers on green grass at the entrance. As we entered the hallowed gates of L, I said a prayer in my heart. "Yahi hai meri karambhoomi" and touched the ground in my heart. I had entered INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, LUCKNOW.