So Long...

There’s something about leaving, which is always hard. Parting with things, places and people is harder than you imagine. And then it is harder if you have a filmy mind like me. You imagine events in a certain way in your head and it never turns out that way. Real life so doesn’t imitate reel life, for sure.

Last week I said goodbyes twice. First to Calcutta, and then to Ogilvy. Strangely with Calcutta, it wasn’t so hard. Every time I go there, a certain sense of detachment sets in.
And that’s because of the political scenario which just doesn’t let the city move. Out of the 5 days I was there, one day the city was crippled thanks to Mamata Banerjee’s Maha Rally, the other day there was Cab strike. So it wasn’t exactly a dream run in Calcutta. So saying bye to my people was harsh, but not so much to the city.

And then my bbye moment to Ogilvy. It was harder than I thought. I just hung on to it. I just wanted to be and not leave. I wanted to have my friends gather around and talk, maybe go out drinking. But then with everybody gone before me, there was no one around to do that with. So I hung on to studio and client servicing people I have never spoken and said my bbyes for ages, hoping someone would walk me out. Because that’s the way the reel rolls in my head. But thank god to Nitin and Jossy. It was nice talking to Nitin. Thanks for the gift. And Thanks so much to Jossy for the book. Very well thought of. And I loved what he wrote on the inside page. May your wish for me come true, because that’s my wish too. So I staggered out of the agency alone, and no matter how much you tell yourself to be a man and not cry, your eyes do well up. I have spent close to 3 years in this agency, known some wonderful people, made friends with some, goddamn!

So anyway, both my bbyes weren’t exactly the way I imagined. Maybe I should start dreaming those morbid NFDC type movies of 70s where nothing great happens through the movie, the jholawala union leader gets killed, people die of hunger and in the last shot the sun sets behind the fume belching industrial backdrop, leaving the screen dark. But maybe I’ll not. Why screw the vision of the head. It’s a wonderful world in there. Atleast things are perfect in there. So I’ll keep dreaming in Technicolour.