Goodbye.

It's been a long time since the last post, and with good reason. I finally did take something seriously, my project work. But now it's all over, and I'm now, Aditya Sharma, B.Sc., M.Sc.!

Never in my wildest dreams a few years ago, had I ever imagined that I'd ever do a Masters, that too M.Sc. For me, it was something very high on the intellectual ladder, something which extremely brilliant people do, others just get a graduation and get a job. If I had only known better.............!!

It all seems surreal still, can't really fathom that a split-second decision made at the spur of the moment, could have led to all this - these two amazing years of my life spent in Pondicherry. My decision to do a Masters was a well-thought one, unlike the one regarding B.Sc. I just didn't want to remain only a graduate all my life. I know, not the best of reasons to get into higher education, but doing a M.Sc. at that point of time was an absolute must for me, an essential qualification that I HAD to obtain. But then again, Bioinformatics was never on my radar, and Pondicherry most definitely not!!!! I used to see scores of advertisements from dozens of Universities all over India, in The Hindu, everyday, many from the south of India. But never was I compelled to apply. And I have no clue what drove me to apply  for Pondicherry Central University. And also, what propelled me to change my original course of choice (Ecology) to Bioinformatics. It was a decision taken in a split-second, when a friend's mother was getting the application procedure for her done, and I was asked to decide on the spot whether I wanted it to be done for myself too. And I said YES!!!!

It feels weird to think what my life would have been, had I said no then. There are a multitude of possibilities, but I had said YES. And all the events which henceforth followed, such as giving two exams on the same day (TERI & PCU), extreme difficulty in finding the center for PCU, bioinfo exam, these two being the only two entrances I managed to clear, taking admission in TERI (where I always wanted to study, albeit in a different course than the one I was offered), then making up my mind to drop a year and withdrawing admission from TERI, and finally, getting a call letter from PCU on the very same day I ditched TERI. In retrospect, it reaffirmed my faith in the butterfly effect.

Initially the stay in Pondicherry was conceptualized as just a six-month long experience, to fulfill some fantasies, such as travelling alone, staying in a hostel, experiencing life away from home. I still can't pin-point when did I decide to stick it out for the long haul, and complete the course. But I do know for sure, it was this awesome bunch of 18 people I met here ( 2 later left), along with the scenic beauty of the place, and the jungle like nature of my new dwelling place, which compelled me to do so.

I had never realized how quickly time flies by, as I did in the past 2 years. These two years have gone by in a blink. Seems like it was just yesterday I left home. But, I also changed, a LOT, in this one day. A little older, a little wiser, a little more cynical, a lot more confident and comfortable in my own skin.

And now, as I type this blog post from my computer in my Lab, it strikes me that these are the last few hours I'm spending in this lab, which for the greater part of the last two years, has been my home (yup, the lab is where I spent more time, as compared to the hostel). It really is an unpleasant feeling when it strikes you that whatever you are indulging in, could be the last time you are doing it, whether u liked that thing or not. I have been plagued by this feeling for the last couple of weeks now, when every look at the beautiful shades in the sky during the daily ritual of the sun rising and setting, every chirp from one of the plethora of beautiful winged-creatures that abound here, every sight of each and every corner of the university bathed in a sea of spring -time yellow finery, every whiff of the refreshing sea breeze (except when it is accompanied with the stench of drying fish), every morsel of inedible, unfit-for-human-consumption food, every laugh and cup of tea shared with my friends, reminded me , that this could be the last one! And now, finally those last moments have actually arrived.


For almost the entire year gone by, I bitched and complained about each and everything I hate about this place. Till a few weeks back, I couldn't wait to get out of here. I still am relieved to a great extent, of being deprived of all those things that made me miserable. But, somehow, it's not accompanied with happiness. It's not a nice feeling now that the good I'm leaving behind strikes me as hard as the bad. There is just so much that I'm leaving behind - student life, hostel life, complete independence, awesome friends, super fast unrestricted internet connection, living in a jungle, awesome sunrises and awesome sunsets, always being near d beach.

Am I gonna miss all this? of course. Am I wary of the uncertainty that the future holds? YES. But I still look forward to the future, back to the familiarity of the place I love, Delhi, and my home, and keeping all the good of Pondicherry university meanwhile firmly with me. I may not be able to say with the utmost certainty that I'm happy or glad about it, but I definitely do not regret saying that YES!!