Nothing
gets
spookier
than
staying
alone
in
a
12th
floor,
4BHK
apartment
in
a
super
metro
city
like
Mumbai
and
when
it
gets
beyond
3-4
days
you
slip
in
Blues
mode.
I
was feeling
all
this
because
one
odd
week
my
all
flat
mates
were either
on
a
family
holiday
or
officially
out
of
Mumbai
for
Three-four
days.
It
had
been
ages
since
I
had
experienced
such
a
feeling
of
being
alone
and
stranded.
I
still
remember
my
2008
Kolkata
days,
when
I
joined
Aircel
(fresh
from
my
MBA
college)
as
a
management
trainee
and
was
forced
to
take
the
marketing
and
communication
role
for
Rest
of
Bengal
– South
region,
taking
care
of
Nadia,
Murshidabad,
Birbhoom
and
Parts
of
Midnapore
districts.
It
wasn't
just
about
a
new
job
assignment,
it's
more
of
cultural,
habitual
and
social
challenge.
It was a real 'Survivor' series experience. I
was
putting
up
in
a
small,
laid
back
and
old
town
Krishna
nagar
and
that
was
the
time,
when
I
first
encountered
fear
of
being
alone
(in
night)
with
grasshopper's
stridulation
in
the background,
howling
voices
from
a
distant
and
moon-light
playing
hide-n-seek
just
outside
my
room's
window.
My
room
was
just
in
the
midst
of
a
spread
lawn,
which
would
go
to
sleep
(along
with
the
complete
city)
by
8
in
the
evening
and
you
would
left
with
no
other
choice
except
to
crawl
into
your
bed,
cling
to
your
quilts
and
set to brave long
dark-nights.
I
still
remember
every
other
night
I
would
have
tried
to
forget
the
loneliness
and
immerse
myself
in
daily
chores
or
talking
over
phone
to
catch
a
sound
sleep
but with
little
success.
It
continued
for
almost
two
months
and
then
I
had
two
local
Bengali,
office
colleagues
cum
flat
mates
to
rescue
me
from
the
rather
extended
solitude.
Since
then
I
had
been
to
Bangalore,
Delhi
and
Mumbai
but
always
had
healthy company
of
room
or
flat
mate
/s.
But
those
first
two
months
in
Krishna
nagar
made
me
vulnerable
to
the
combo
of
'night
and
fear'
so
much
so
that
Today
I
still
can't
watch
a
horror
movie
alone
in
the
night.
It
would
take
all
my
'Roadies courage'
to
get
adventurous
for
a
horror
entertainment
in
night,
once
in
a
blue
moon.
This
time
in
Mumbai
it
was
like
Home
Alone
-2,
waking
up
every
morning
and
finding
self
alone
in
the four bed room
home
was hard
to believe.
And Mumbai is notoriously famous for making you feel an outcast even
in the crowdest places like Marine drive or a Local train ride. I
know Mumbaiya loyalists would argue me for the city being a second
home to them but mates let's be true to ourselves, it's one of the
better compromises available on the list, period. Now
I
could
relate
to
the
lives
of
celebrities
in
Mumbai,
the
stardom,
money,
fans
leave
a
void
in
their
lives,
a
loneliness,
which
actually
can't
be
filled
by
any
engagement
except
togetherness.
That's
why
every
break-up
come
real
heavy
on
a
celebrity
because
it's
irreplaceable
in
all
forms
and
post
their
heydays,
the
fame
turns their
nemesis
and
would leave
them
stranded
in
a
marshland
of
blues,
emptiness
and
fear.
These
experiences
make
you
realize
that
Life
is
soft
and
fast,
you
would
have
to
live
it
delicately
and
carefully.
It
is
to
be
lived
with
people
– go
out
make
friends,
date
your
love,
live
in
a
joint
family,
get
into
a
Live-In
relationship,
value
relations
and
respect
emotions.
And
a
special
message
to
all
those,
who
anoint
themselves
as
a
loner
and
claim
that
life
has
not
been
just
to
them;
value
yourself
and
learn
that
togetherness
is
a
gift
– embrace and
love
it!
...Annu
...Annu
