What comes with Shifting

*picture from flickr.com

Pune. One of the few places I have been to where the sky gets overcast in June. And, what’s more, it does actually rain.

Dada tells me the winds have been proactive back in the capital. Hot, in case you were wondering. They make you come out of the protected, air-conditioned confines of your homes, eagerly anticipating the rush of breeze on your cheeks. Immediately after, you head back. Flushed and sun warmed to the bones. But that’s in Delhi.

Here, the panipuri wallah gave me a welcoming smile as I walked past. He probably recalled the many times R and I had asked for an extra papdi.

Not that he minded that, considering we were hungry pigs over his panipuri frequently through the week. The laundry wallah asked me where I had been. I have NEVER been handy with an iron. My escapades with the thing would take up too much space (never mind the embarrassment I would have to admit to) but that’s another story… So, basically what I am trying to say is: Pune was welcoming. And thank God for that.

R was on a train yesterday and the phone networks gave us an awful time. The thing is, I had gotten so used to my former Pune number. The other day when I called up to check, there was this girl who says – “Hello? When can I come and see you?” If it was rude of me to be short and disconnect, I apologize. But drat, I thought. So much for forgetting to keep the Prepaid Well Fed. Sometimes shifting creates this tangled-wires situation. One I am not exactly bonkers over.

You know how there are times when you want to steal into your little place with all your memorabilia and say goodbye to all the hello-how-are-you-I-am-so-and-so? I mean, those times when socializing seems like a pain? I enjoy meeting new people and getting to know them and all that but – at one point – I want to have MY people around. You can call me moody. Or plain boring. It’s like that now, what with my new surroundings and new companions. Too much of the social-animal hoopla ho. And not too much like me.

Anyhow, Pune gives me moments. Highs and lows and in-betweens. The adrenaline rushes, the flushes of colour on the cheeks. For little moments such as these, I can take it all.

The shifting is now all done. I think I will snuggle in my new bed and dream about my old one. Good night, Pune.