"Dil na ummeed nahi, Na kaam hi toh hai....lambi hai gham ki shaam, magar shaam hi toh hai...."
To say that the first year in Jakarta was difficult would be a massive understatement. Life had changed considerably. Where once we had a 8 seater car in our garage at our own disposal, we now had to think twice even before taking a cab. Loneliness was such that the main door that closed on our return from school at 3.30pm, was most likely to open only to let us out the next morning at 6am when we left for school.
The people of the condominium added to the gloomy aura, with no replies to usual pleasantries in the main lobby. Hell, even meetings in lift would be greeted with frowns and turned-away faces.
I have to admit though that the view from the apartment was worth forgetting such incidents. It was similar to the main body of an essay, thereby minimizing such behaviour of people into mere footnotes. Half the flat was facing the sea, and being on the 12th floor, the sea breeze was more than soothing.
One thing which kept me occupied during this phase was school. To be honest, I dont know whether I realized that my parents had sacrificed their lifestyle for the sake of my education, or not, but I needed to vindicate it with results. Not that it was a well thought conscious effort, but I was lucky that I could help in the situation within my capacity.
Defining Gandhi Memorial International School in my life would be interesting. It started off as the fourth school of my life, transformed into my high school, and ended as my alma mater, in the process becoming one of the two schools where I spent the longest time. The beginning of this journey was rough, more so in terms of acceptance by peers, as is often the case at such an age. There always are people though who come and make you feel comfortable. It was then that Siddharth became the friend which I needed to blend into the new school. I guess I never have paid my gratitude to him for being there, but thanks Sid, it meant a lot. And touch-wood, our friendship still is the same, probably even better and I hope it remains this way!
Like they say, "there is always light at the end of the tunnel", life did start to take an upswing. We should have guessed the turn of events for the better, from the moment a certain event occurred- The Cricket World Cup 2003! Seemingly, to lift our moods (at least my mood), the Indian team did extremely well, giving us a memorable one month and a bit. The shift in mood created then would become more decisive during the coming few months, leading into our second year of Jakarta.
Come the second year in Jakarta, and we had shifted house, moving away from the apartment which symbolized loneliness in our lives, to a new apartment. The vibrancy reminded us that there are people around to socialize with, get along with, meet up with; in other words, we seemed to have landed back on earth from an alien planet. Having almost 70% of its occupants as Indians, the condominium helped in us getting the company of people which we had lacked for the major part of last year. The coming two years spent in this apartment form one of the most memorable parts of my formative years, where almost everything that we had wished for came our way. God had listened to us, and bestowed our reward for patience and endurance on us...
(to be continued)
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