It’s time to move again

For the first quarter of my life, I lived in one place. In one house. I went to the same school through my schooling years. And the same college for all the 5 years of college life. And then, when it was time to get married, I just knew that I had to be on the move. I wanted to see more places, do more things.

Maybe I felt this so strongly because it was my destiny… I married an army officer and the only certain thing in the uncertain life of an army officer and his army wife is their constant travels. It’s been 2 years since I’ve been married and now it’s time to move again…for the 3rd time since I joined him and started living life in the olive green.  

Pune: Our life in Pune began on the 1st day of the beginning of 2011 – the start of a new decade in a brand new place. Wonderful coincidence, yes.

Although he was posted in a military camp based on the outskirts of Pune, everything within and around Pune soon became our source of fun. Our weekend getaway. City life is for the youngsters, this is what I have come to believe. Especially after I spent 8 months in a country environment before this. In the last 1.5 years, life in Pune was everything fun defines.

Since January of last year, I came across so many people. New people. Different mindsets. Some of them irked me. Some of them changed me. Some of them, created memories of my life in Pune. Forever.

 In February, I started working for a reputed advertising agency in Pune. Although I worked there for a meagre 4 months or so, the challenge and taste of a new job was in itself gratifying. I was free to explore a world of writing for digital media in Xebec E-Media…one of the leading advertising agencies in Pune. Come June though, I left for greener pastures.

I joined another reputed and locally renowned firm called Pratisaad Communications, again as a copywriter. The journey that began in June last year ends on the 30th of this month. Copy-writing here was never like a job. It was a challenge, a question. One had to understand the client’s mind, his emotion, his heart before drafting lines.

And this is where I realized that everyone isn’t different really. They just make different choices and have different tastes. That is what makes your life and everybody else's different from mine.

My job at Pratisaad kept me busy in Pune. I travelled 25 kms one way, therefore 50 kms everyday to get to work and back. The rickshaw ride gave me time to think. A luxury in today’s hurried pace of life . I dreamt a lot. I thought often during my journeys everyday.

Besides work, military life in the camp here kept me busy. When there wasn’t a military function to attend, there was a fellow army officer's child’s birthday party or someone’s anniversary. Celebration after celebration. One thing that makes the army life so much more different than routine civilian life is the way everyone is close knit. They share everything from drinks to dinners and birthdays with each other like one big happy joint family.

70 officers, their wives and children came last year for the Technical Staff College Course in DIAT, Pune.The same 70 will soon leave. By the end of May - there will be 70 empty houses...houses where we once lived and created lifetime moments to remember. Some of us made several friends within the group of 70. Some of us made a few. But one thing is certain – all of us will remember Pune fondly because it was the one place we could spend time with our family. Every new place after this will be a challenge, a fight. A reason to be stronger than we actually are. Because, in the army - you never know when you are going to be left alone.

My high point living in Pune was being close to Mumbai, to the people who mattered to me. I’ve spent a major part of my life in Mumbai. And my family there, my friends – they were just a 3 hour drive away. Some of my friends came down to see us here. My family did too…although not as often as I’d dreamed. But then again, we are all busy chasing dreams. I never thought I’d live in Pune. And I did. For that matter, I never thought I’d live in Kanpur – and I soon will.

To everyone who made Pune a fantastic and enjoyable experience – thank you. And good bye. My new house in Kanpur is always, always open for you – whenever you decide to come.