My days in Dil-li and Gur-gaon

It wasn’t my first visit to a new city. I had been to new places, met new people, and seen new things but just I hadn’t lived a new life!

I never thought it would be so new. I had just packed a few things, thinking it was just another assignment. But within an hour of landing in Delhi back in February, I could smell new air. Just that this newness wasn’t so good or bad (at least not yet)!

I took my first ride, of course only after downloading a few new apps that I had never used before. I was excited to meet the people I had been remotely working with for the last 9 months. 

“Hello!, Hi!”, I almost shouted with a broad smile as soon as I stepped inside the office. “Hey!”, a couple of handshakes and smiles later, I settled down.

“Wasn’t it a bit cold?” I asked myself! I had grown up in a place where a new guest is welcomed just like MS Dhoni is at Chepauk. Not just the broadly visible excitement but they are showered with flowering words and gestures. Maybe I mistook myself as a guest when they saw me as a team member.

I was yet to feel bad about it and we went to have a team lunch. I got another reason to not believe in the famous saying, “First impression is the last impression!” 

“It is the corporate world, man! Here moods and impressions change as per the numbers!” I realised much later.

I was finally welcomed, not with a cup of tea and a wide variety of sweets as is the case in my homeland but with words. After all, what matters more to a person who’s in writing than the words?

It marked the beginning of my new learning curve. On the first day itself, I learned and lived through a few experiences that might have taken me years to learn back home. 

“You got to look out for things, fight for them, ask for them, struggle for them, do whatever but just that they don’t come to you itself,”: This is what I told myself as part of my learning on the first day.

Days passed, and I met a lot of new people. I had all kinds of experiences, especially with the food and people. The food was so bad that every other person who met me tried convincing me otherwise. The people were as different as the colours of IPL team jerseys: most looked the same but weren’t exactly the same.

Some were really good and welcoming. Some were very talented yet down to earth and always helpful. Some knew nothing except for boasting about themselves and their families. Some were so occupied with work that they barely had a moment to spare. Some were so free that they spent their entire time poking others. Some were more creative at creating excuses than at work. Some were less in skills but filled with dedication. And so on…

Amid all this, I conversed a lot. I spoke a lot. I didn’t say a word even when I wanted to. I faked a smile. I wanted to smile but didn’t. I laughed at jokes that made no sense. I didn’t laugh even when something sounded super funny. I did what I wouldn’t. I didn’t do what I would. 

Yes, it was all part of my learning. I learned to act as per the demand of the situation. I learned not to act if the situation demanded. I learned a lot. But I wouldn’t just go about learnings. 

I saw a whole new world. While we in Kashmir are fighting and living our lives just to survive, people in Gurgaon are not too away from creating a new world of their own. Everyone thinks about creating something new. Something that they own. Something that they can change the world with. And most importantly, something that makes a lot of money.

Our dreams are smaller than the buildings in that city and theirs are higher than our skies. It’s not that we don’t know how to dream big but our wings were cut even before we were born. The only cage they see is the one made of taxes, yet we live our whole lives inside a cage that seems beyond our powers to break. All of them are trying to build something new yet we are fighting to break these ages-old shackles. 

We aren’t different just here. But more so in how we in Kashmir see the world. In Dil-li, everyone is selling something! While we give away our Dil to every other person we see, even their smiles come at a cost! They see everyone as a competition while the only competition we have here is: who makes more dishes for the guests!

It might sound like I’m complaining about Gur-gaon and Dil-li and its people but I’m not. They are full of Gur (sugar) and Dil (heart) but just their Gur and Dil aren’t as much available for humans as it’s for their pets. 

All said, while these cities and people might not have enough time for fellow humans, you can learn to move mountains by just observing how hard they work. They literally put themselves on the line to get the best out of their work. Most of them see their work as prayer, but just that they don’t miss their prayers. 

I saw a manager who sleeps with a laptop on his tummy just to ensure the targets are met! I saw a founder who never stops thinking about how to make it bigger! I saw a copywriter who doses himself into a fictitious world to improve his copies! I saw a graphic designer whose fingers were drawing shapes even while in deep sleep! I saw a community manager who takes care of the whole community yet doesn’t care about the world! I literally saw a world that never stops working! 

It all taught me an important lesson: work hard but not that much that you forget why you’re working and don’t aim of growing so much that you actually stop living! 

Now, after 60 days of thrill, thunder and tiredness, on landing back in my beloved homeland, I don’t see myself as a completely changed person but an improved version of myself!