WEEK T-1 August 31st to September 2nd

It was 12:00 hours on the last day of the August, 2012 & the train #11042 Mumbai Express started from Chennai Central (MAS). I would like  to mention about the last moment glitch that I made around 10:30 hours, when I came to notice the mail from the ivolunteer stating that my expected date of arrival was on 2^nd of September and not on the 1^st. I had already changed my previous schedule of the journey, according to which I should have started from Chennai on 28^th & reached Mumbai on 30^th. I had previously thought of spending a couple of days in my friend Harry's place but due to the other reasons I had cancelled the ticket that was booked by Nivethan. As soon as I saw the mail, I thought of changing my departure date to September 1^st but I was unable to find the ticket on the next day. So, I started from Chennai without the passport size photos, medical certificate & some other provisions that I wanted. As far as the send off was concerned, THEY were sentimental & they broke to tears. I was pretty much unfazed by the beginning of the journey. I knew that I MAY not see them or for that matter the whole of South India itself, for the next 15 months. I wouldn't say that I was prepared for it but I was expecting it. (Being prepared for the future is different from knowing what the future is. Although I know what the future is, I didn't know how the future will be or what all may happen, so in a way I was open to the incidents that may/will occur in the future.) To just give an example of my unpreparedness for the future, All the projects of the fellowship were in North India that too mostly in the Hindi speaking belt. Even though I kind of learnt Hindi from class I to VIII, I had no prior experience of speaking in Hindi. Anyway as soon as the train started from Chennai, a wise old man became a friend of me & he shared a lot of his experiences, foods & “GYAAN” over the rest of the journey. Incidentally, he, Mr.Dharmaraj, a chemical engineer & now a man of 70-75 was also going to Pune to join with his son's family for a week. I was picked in the Pune railway station by Mr.Mohammed Ali, a friend of my mother's friend. He gave me the accommodation & the food for the day. In the evening I met up with my M.B.A. classmate & friend Girish, on whose suggestion I applied for the ICICI fellowship.

The next day I woke up got ready & went to the Pune railway station for my pick up. Apart from Girish,  I met Shivam, Yashaswini & Ankit with whom I attended the assessment day. The journey from Pune to Khandala was great and the landscape slowly changed into a serene new world filled with lush green meadows and pure white streams. When I reached Khandala I was welcomed with a cool and rosy drizzle. As soon as I reached the HOTEL VALLERINA, I knew that I am going to have the time of my life in one way or the other. Then I met Adarsh, Ashwini, Akanksha, Romila,  Khalid & Rohan. We all had lunch together and that was an elaborate lunch & it was a king's meal! In the evening we played a game of bluff, had food & spoke for sometime so that we could understand a little about others. All of us were full of excitement & we were eager to start our journey of 456 days of monsoon. We didn't know what the days ahead would make of us or what we would make of the days ahead of us but we were sure of one thing, the monsoon ahead would feed us with a lot of rain for our thought & growth. The clouds were dark & it was all set for a heavy rain!