A Journey From 'HELLO' To 'GOODBYE'

I always used to think that I am an extrovert person, but not more than last year I discovered that I am more of an ambivert. That basically meant I am in the middle of an extrovert and an introvert. I am always eager to meet new people but shy at the same time but as soon as we are comfortable you just cannot stop talking to me. Back then it was just a realization until I joined my internship at Haldwani, Nainital. I was undoubtedly excited about the new start.

On 31-12-19, the first day, as usual, like most of us, was a little nervous and anxious. On the same day, I got to travel Nainital with all the colleagues for a new year celebration. I was in a dilemma whether to go or not as I didn’t know anybody at that time. But I looked at this as an opportunity to know them all, not everything but maybe I will get a little comfortable.

It was a nice short tour, which includes my first little track (as I would say as a beginner) that I just completed with all my soul put into it, my first snow experience, and knowing a little bit all of them. But above all, somewhere I was sure to hesitate to start a conversation with any one of them from my side. It was not like that they were bad or something, absolutely not…It’s just me being me.

One thing I forgot to add was that my office had all bunch of bachelors, from the boss to the obvious interns. Moving forward a little bit faster, from January to mid-March, I experienced a lot during my internship. Starting from work I did, to small office parties, those no pressure yet to meet deadline works, whatnot. Maybe I get short of a word to say that. Till this time, I got comfortable with the environment of the office and I try not to skip going there.

Then comes this companion of Covid-19, “LOCKDOWN-1”. I was alone in my P.G. room on the first curfew day of this lockdown and somewhat sad when heard about it because I knew that I cannot survive this shit alone in a room. On the same evening, I got a call from my Ma’am asking me to shift with her until the next news on lockdown comes and honestly, I didn’t see that coming and without thinking much I agreed to the proposal.

To be honest, those two and a half months of lockdown with them were the best days of my lives in an unusual way. There is nothing that I have not enjoyed. We watched movies together, waking up the whole night just to re-watch some old movies that sometimes made us sleepy, those cooking sessions scheduled particularly, eating as healthy as ‘sprouts’ to all the homemade junk like ras malai, momos, kachori, etc. worked together, learned cleaning well. Singing random songs, teasing each other, daring to go outside of time to buy some basics, fighting over those stupid talks, and most importantly I enjoyed celebrating birthdays, making cakes, preparing special dinners, and the desserts that would lasts 2 days at least.

Besides all this enjoyment I learned some traits as a person from each person. One taught me to be patient, the other to be hardworking, another just to be passionate even it is tiny and so much more that has stuck with me forever.

I always believed that life is a journey and u will meet people that will impact you in one way or another and this bunch has just taught me so much. I will surely miss them, the mountains, the rains, and the unpredictable weather. Comparing my first few months with them to my last day, I never thought that it would be that hard to bid goodbye to them all. In the story of my life, this chapter will surely be titled “From Nervous HELLO to Hardest GOODBYE”.