Imagine you are cooking chicken! Basic Indian styled chicken cooked in onion, garlic, ginger and other spices. And when you serve it, you top it up with freshly chopped coriander. The leg piece just covered with the thick brown gravy and the heat of the steam hitting your nostrils along with the aroma of coriander. That's when you sit, admire, put a bit of gravy in fresh hot steamed white rice, mix it with your fingers. But with caution; only using the tips of the fingers, not using all the fingers at the same time making sure they don't get burnt. Take a piece of chicken out, place it as to not touch the rice or the gravy you put on the rice, tear a section out of it and eat it with the rice you just worked upon. The tongue withdraws because its hot! But the desire to taste the combination overcomes the fear of burns. Then you chew it, feel the flavour of various spices, moistness of the the gravy inside the chicken piece and the perfect taste of plain steamed rice. Almost simultaneously, without even you knowing, you pick up the chopped onion and take a bite. The droplets of lemon sprinkled on it along with normal salt enriches the tasting experience. Slow it down to feel the entire string of events. Close your eyes to encompass the wholeness of the entire experience, right from the preparation to consumption. That is the sort of experience, I associate the word 'holistic' with!
A random thought would be why I discussed this particular string of events? One of the reasons would be that I am a chicken lover and I love to cook! I wish I could make changes to my life accordingly. Not that I have had a life full of disappointments but I would have loved to make it better. Not in all aspects of it but definitely some parts. And these some parts always get you in the loop where you thought if I could travel back in time and change just that bit of my life. Things would be better than how they are right now.
A lot has been happening around me more than inside me of late! I just sat down and counted. If I sign off from XL on 28th February, this would be the 121st day before I leave. And that forced me to think of certain things which didn't go the way I thought they would. When I came here, I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. But as usual, I stayed low and saw. And did I see carefully! I found my people and my life here. I was off sailing after a couple of months. Till date I have not done anything of note here. I kill time, I talk to my partner for very very long periods of time and I engage in meaningful discussions with my people here. I play it the cool way. I didn't study the way students of a B school are expected to; neither did I formed relations of intellect and convenience here with my peers or professors.
I don't know how it happened but I sort of detested the B school life from day 1. Thankfully, I got people who helped me sail through without failing any courses. But right now, these are not the things which are on my mind. The so called rigours of a B school and the pressure cooker situations. I didn't find any. I survived without a trace of light in my room for one entire semester. I made do without a laptop for a month too! And I managed all the personal freedom in my personal life which pushed me to be a regular absentee from the classes even where there were marks for attending. I still can't figure why should I be awarded for sitting through a class without gaining anything from it. Mostly I have learnt nothing as far as the course is concerned. My chicken is a little differently cooked here. Not all of it was on purpose but then I am in love with the word called "Serendipity".
So I shall come out from here with a better ability to lie and thats smartness or Jugaad as put up by some smart recruiters! They love people who are beautiful or are Jugaadu! I am left with better questions to answer though at this point in time. Questions like "Will I feel sad when I leave this place"? The same sort of feelings when I passed out of engineering. Questions like "What have I done in the past one year and a few months"? And many more of varied nature. And as I said one can never take care of everything that happens to oneself.
One of the major satisfactions of my stay has been the tolerance levels of people here. They are either very patient or fakers. And both the categories exist. The balance is right there; hung up on a thin fulcrum. What people typically don't get here is that the person is much more than that one page of crap with formatted tables and inflated manifestations of one's efforts. But this is how it runs here and probably everywhere.
Leaves me with a dilemma though! I have been in love with this word 'dilemma' after my sustainability course. God, do we need a green world with hungry people or do we need a black sky with people eating nutritional pills to live? Was I cut out to be here or was it destiny? I did well in those two hours and those 20 minutes of talking to end up here. If not well, I did better than others who still are outside lining up to be here. Envisaging the thrills and challenges of the 'rigours of a b school of repute'! Probably they think, less u sleep better are you in terms of managing business. Losers! I slept for more than 8-9 hours everyday on an average. Fuck it, there is no pain. There is no challenge. It's easy in here. If I could do it the way I did, anyone would and survive. In fact, there is no issue of survival either. And to add to the lists of things for which I don't have any dilemma, it's not different from days of engineering either! And by the time you would come out, you will land up with a job better than your previous one! At least in my case it's guaranteed.
May be the chicken is not as tasty as I thought it would be, but it still tastes better than the regular "Aloo ka Sabji"! And if you want to experience the full flavour, burn your fingers first (Because its hot on fingers to work) and then your tongue as well!!
