On Vishwavidyalaya

A bond that i share with the anonymous scientist, our dear former columnist, is the fact that we are  glued by our affinity to call a distant place our home. While he shared his thoughtful quibbles on a rather mundane chore, I too thought of following the bandwagon to pen a piece, to breathe coherence to my mental rambles. To embrace capital city as my home, wasn't that difficult than I thought it would be. The misty (read: polluted) winds has a certain way of enchanting you. My daily commute happens through the extensively connected Delhi metro. I ply to my office on the yellow line, Delhi metro's indigenous way of classifying different passenger routes. From the bustling early office rush till the time the monkeys in the office drive me out of the office. The last stop on my journey is Vishwavidyalaya, a rather iconic stop. What amuses me is not the fact that it has the best colleges of the country lined up every kilometer, nor the air of activism surrounded by hoardings of student union. What makes me curious lies right there in the metro station. In the name itself. What if the world could become the university- Vishwavidyalaya? What if I could be the student?

Penning these thoughts on a crowded train, I wonder what a fantastic pun on the word, Vishwavidyalaya. I ponder on the rather mundane things and asks this question , " What is it that it is trying to tell me?" In this metro journey, I realised that it is the same route that I take from Central Secretariat to Vishwavidyalaya. Tracks are the same. Stops are same. Yes, people are different, but some same. Yet as I review things, life gives me many answers unasked for.

The other day I paid intent attention to one of the metro announcement. Though innocuous by its sound, very profound in its impact. The unknown lady in her soothing voice blurted out from the black box, "Passengers who are boarding the metro are requested to give way, on priority, for passengers deboarding from the metro" ( not verbatim). Come to think of it, this is very profound at many levels. We invest so much time in inserting many things into our lives without given consideration that many things in life needs to deleted. At most times, the simultaneous entry and exit makes the most  commotion, both in the mind and the metro. Each has to have its own time. These little incidents remind us of many profound things.

I never thought a metro journey would indeed be a life revealing thing. But nonetheless, it has taught me things. If I overstretched my reader's imagination, my apologies. Hope you too would draw many meaningful conclusions from many meaningless things.

Waiting to hear it, someday perhaps

( Also seeking this opportunity to post the cover photo- Zack) 😉