mihir

"How's Mihir?", my aunt asked my mother a day before I was scheduled to fly out to the States. My mother has been a creative creature for as long as my memory serves me, and her reply only reinforced that belief  — "He seems fine, but only once he writes his blog a year and a half later, will we know for sure." I remember this exchange distinctly, and moreover I wrote it down in my diary  — something I had decided to maintain over the course of the next foreseeable future. Just a couple of days back I had written about my undergraduate experience and while the memories had made the words flow naturally, I was almost certain that I had missed out on so called smaller incidents that must have been crucial to my growth during those four years. I did not want to repeat the same mistake, and I believed that noting down incidents, and emotions in real time would aid my memories when (not if)  I did decide to pen down my blog once I completed my master's. So here ...

today wasn't good not as I expected I started off slow that played with my mind there were distractions aplenty the usual  it was hard to pick myself uff, gravity sleep came easy self-doubt nagging along I woke up not for the first time today brewed some coffee and (hoping) with it a fresh-mind sat-upright with a plan in sight that rhyme was music, though short-lived they came again, and took me to a virtual land, far-far away I left my abode and went for a run mind, not nagging along where am I today? I often forget where was I before today? I often forget what did it take for me to get where I am today? I often forget gravity, baby steps, and some coffee I often forget for the umpteenth time   I gave today another go today was a good day lest I forget "Why are you constantly worrying about the next part of your life  without realizing that you're right in the middle  of what you used to look forward to?" ~ Anonymous ...

It was the month of November, and the year was 2019. It was the birthday of one of my closest friends. While she resided in Mumbai, having recently started working for a corporate firm, I was in San Diego — studying. Gifts were sent, and messages exchanged of how she held a dear position in my life — but the time difference and a working day meant that we were unable to talk over the phone for longer than two minutes. On the same day, about two hours before her birthday ended, I was surprised to see her message pop-up on my phone. There were telltale signs in her messages that she was having a horrible day — and that led to a half-an-hour conversation over the phone. She was in a new city, around people she had met just a few weeks prior; it was a working day, and office formalities didn't offer her any celebration other than the meet-and-greet birthday wishes! She had planned to reward herself with a dinner at a fancy restaurant with the money, and more importantly the effort th...

there's a sudden silence in the room the place where you stay there seems to be a lack of familiarity and yet it's here that you lay in the galaxy that I call mine the stars no longer shine it's the same air I would breathe yet this is the place I want to leave you've been suffocated in your dome and yet it's this place that you call home? there was chaos and yet there wasn't in the space outside your abode there were glances and smiles and yet they were just passers-by along the road in the garden that wasn't mine the flowers bloomed all too fine it's the same field you and I shared yet that's the grass I found greener I've been pushed into my house and now I know the place that's truly home

I leave for the States in less than a week — to pursue my second degree, a master’s in computer science at the University of California San Diego. The first one was a bachelor’s in biochemical engineering and biotechnology, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Sounds like quite a dramatic shift, but it’s not quite as it seems, and this blog uncovers how that happened, and so much more — about how I, a boy who had just turned 18, moved to the national capital and made it my home. I decided to start off with the pretext of me leaving to pursue another degree, and I do that for a specific reason. I can’t help but compare the stark difference between my approach and mentality right now, to what it was four years ago when I was leaving for Delhi. The last time around, I had spent the major part of two years preparing for an entrance exam, and I would be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed that journey. But nevertheless it was a taxing process that had left its toll on me. In t...