Monday, September 04, 2006

A tale of Two Cities

First let me make something clear. This post is not about the book "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. Its quite a nice book, one of the classics of English literature. But it doesn't have anything to do with this post. Only the title has been borrowed from Mr. Dickens' masterpiece. So, you may ask why have I named this post as "A Tale of Two Cities".

The two cities referred to in the title are Patna and Jamshedpur,the two cities where I have spent most of my life. Patna, the capital of Bihar, my birthplace, where I spent my childhood and did my initial schooling and which is my present home also. Jamshedpur, the steel city, which I called my home for nearly a dozen years. Two cities 500 km apart, but both of which holding a special place in my heart.

But after having spent the past 5 years away from home, there is a feeling of detachment from both the places. Both cities give rise to different feelings in me. Patna, where my parents, my brother, almost my entire family lives. But I feel lost like a total stranger unable to relate to the place. This was not the place which I have memories of. Jamshedpur, where my alma mater, Loyola, is located. A place where I made many friends. But my friends are now spread all across the world, some studying, some working, some settled into family life. I am not going to find many familiar faces there too.

So there is a sense of detachment now. A feeling of belonging to no place. There are other places too. Part of my early days where spent in Nagpur, but the place doesn't have many memories. Dhanbad, where I spent 4 of the most wonderful years doing my engineering. Duliajan, cant call it a city or even a town, but where I spent one year working. And now Indore, for the next two years.

And then I do not know, where life is going to take me. I have become a wanderer who is on a journey, a journey called life.

1 comment:

Suchintya said...

Nobody can help being a traveler in this world and anybody who denies that is lying to himself only! But there will surely be one place atleast, where when you put your foot on, you will feel peace and secure and willing to let go. That place I believe is your home!