BITS It is.... !

 

 After a long year of waiting, Nandita was asked to return to campus to continue her course work. It was the most excitement that she has had in a long while since her graduation ceremony from the 12th grade.

 Nandita was already into the 3rd semester of her course work and the pandemic took the shine of a fresher in the BITS Pilani campus due to the lock down. 

Nevertheless, the excitement of moving on campus, away from home and to be with  friends and course mates who were just virtual thus far knew no bounds.

We booked flights to Delhi and prepared for the drive from there to Pilani. The journey started off on a not so pleasent fashion with us reaching the airport check in counter with less than an hour to spare. As a result, we missed the scheduled flight with a lighter pocket we rebooked on the next flight that was about an hour later.

We made it to Delhi and took a taxi to the 200km long drive to Pilani. The drive was uneventful except for the fact that it wound its way through rural Haryrana and Rajahasthan and at some places the roads were just huge craters. 

It was around 4 PM by the time we reached Pilani and it was raining cats and dogs, the Covid rules for drop off allowed for a one time entry to the campus to drop off the student. 

Neetu in her excitement to meet her friends, insisted that she be dropped off the same evening. I shall remember this for a long time because we did not get to see the campus due the rains and the late evening. 

We dropped her off in the hostel and made the necessary purchases to get her settled in and bid our good bye's. We spent the night in a shanty hotel just outside the campus.

The next morning I tried to coax the security to allow us into the campus, he did not budge however. 

We left Pilani for Delhi by noon and took the flight back home in the evening. 

As parents, we were really thrilled to have her in one of the best institutions in the country, subconsciously as parents again, it felt like the beginning of a empty nest syndrome.

The gift of Life

More often than I would like the topic of death comes up in conversations with kids.

Questions like "Acha..! when I am 30 years old will you be dead?"
or
"If amma dies will you get married again?"
"No"
"Then who will take care of us?"
or
it's followup from Nishanth "What if acha dies first?"
or
"When you are dead will you ever come back?"

It is probably their attempt at trying to understand what death really means.

To some degree I feel we should expose the kids to the realities of life rather than shield and protect them from it. When I was growing it was not uncommon to see people suffering, getting beaten, adults fighting in streets and so on. So as kids we were brought to believe that everything in the world is not always fun and play. There is a dark side to human beings that we can fall into if we are not careful enough. Being in a developed country the kids have a lot more immunity to such realities and hardships of life.

These thoughts came to the forefront recently from two of my activities....

I have been reading a book titled "A long way gone - Memoirs of a boy solder". It is the true story of Ishmael Beah who finds his innocent childhood transform to that of a solder in the fighting in Sierra Leone. It depicts how loving humans can flip into being beasts. Reading this book at bed time would definitely give you a sleepless night.

I also spent some time watching the PBS program - frontline titled The Quake about the realities in Haiti just after the quake, human suffering and survival are the key elements. It makes you realize that when it comes to survival we are no different than any other animal on this planet.

I do hope the kids realize all the good things they have and are thankful for it.