Adios Nudeli

31st August 2007 will not be an ordinary day in my book of memories. The reasons are plenty. For one, it is my last day in New Delhi, a city which has been my home for the last six years. I still remember the scorching summer day of 25th June 2001 when I entered this city with a suitcase full of clothes and a world of curiosity in my eyes. I hope for some rain tomorrow when I leave this city. I would be lying, if I pretend that I liked Delhi. In fact I hated it for its harsh weather and harsher people (or so it seemed to me). Six years later, I still hate the weather of Delhi (especially the summers) but the harsh people around me have slowly disappeared and have been replaced with a cocoon of people I love spending time and sharing my life with. I call them friends. I recently met a gentleman who has spent the last 30 years of his life in the Caribbean’s. I expressed how I thought that he was a lucky man and how I would do anything to see what he has seen. To this he said “the world is always around you, if you have the eyes to see it”. A little poetic I agree, but true. Guess that’s what happened to me in terms of the people of this city, just learnt to see them through their strong exterior armors shielding their actual selves. Staying away from home is always a challenge. Anyone who has done so, can validate that. But it brings out the best in you and makes you a man. A philosophy I always believed in. I am a changed man from what I used to be six years ago, although a part of that also includes the extra 10 kilos I have put on around my waist. Whatever said and done, will miss Delhi when am gone. Will miss its long and broad roads, will miss the occasional rain in the midst of scorching heat and bitter cold. Will miss visiting the places around Delhi with friends, Flextronics and all its memories and will miss the “live for the day” spirit embedded in the vein of the city. Change is the only constant in life, and there is nothing we can do to change that. I have lived every moment of the last six years in this city and as I leave, I leave behind some special moments, some special places and some special people that define my insignificant life. Am saying adios to Delhi, only to come back here whenever I get a chance. For now I need to go finish my packing .......................