Living in Varanasi

So yesterday, was the first day-off work, since about two months. And, I am pretty pretty pretty sure, it was one of the best days of this year. There were many memorable instances of this year but yesterday was one I would remember for a long long while.

After eons I sat down with a book and refills of hot chocolate from about 3pm to midnight. While the entire city was out celebrating the 40th birthday of our nation, I celebrated in my own fashion, and without a single regret of wasting my only holiday in half-an year by spending at home. The thing that kept me going on, inspite of a bad cold and sore eyes was Chetan Bhagat. Oh, I must admit, being an avid reader, nothing....no-one transports me to another world as much as he can.

Revolution 2020, or R2020, is the story of three friends, a love triangle and in the midst of this passionate tale of young love, grows a revolution. The intertwining of two radical ideas to make a plot and the completely unexpected end made it almost impossible for me to do anything else even if I did decide to take a break from the book. The pining which the protagonist (can't be termed so till almost the last chapter) has for the leading lady of the novel, will give anyone a different angle on the idea of love, and maybe some false expectations too.

And the lines which I do not wish to forget for a long time, and have already read about 20 odd times.... "Once upon a time, I was Keshav - sweet, innocent and unaware of the world. Maybe the Keshav hasn't died, I told myself. Maybe that innocent, good part of us never dies - we just trample upon it for a while."

I woke up this morning feeling absolutely different, so different I really am finding it difficult to even express it here. With two hours of an environmental awareness meeting and designing/marketing throughout the day, I somehow still did everything at a superficial level, my mind was completely in Varanasi, infact Varanasi and an engineering college seemed more real to me than my actual life. I have come to understand that I not only read his books, I live them, literally...live them!

Though I completely understand that this post has little or no focus, but after a few midnight messaging sessions, which carried on throughout the day, in a frantic hunt of at least one person who had read the book, to discuss its events and ideas, and utterly failing, I realized I had to vent out in one way or another.....hence the blog. After all, I couldn't spend another day with no productive outcome and was compelled to write this so I can spend tomorrow where I wake up and not in Varanasi.

*Sigh*