The year was 2021, I was excited to have gotten over the COVID scare and ready for a new life in college. I had recently cleared my MAT with a good enough score to get into a decent MBA program. The day I got the offer letter from one of the more popular and a slightly ridiculed campuses, I was so happy that I screamed in joy, startling my sister Tisha.
We ran downstairs to tell mom and dad and our brother Gaurav.
My father was really excited by the news, while my mom Madhu took it as just another policing task I had to go through, "where was this college?", "what was the fees?", "why I needed to go so far from home?" etc. etc. etc., all the nagging killjoy questions she knew I hated answering.
Like always, I was rescued by my father, Jaisingh, who asked my mom to stop already and be happy that I had gotten through. But there lay the catch.
I told them that the email was just a confirmation of eligibility, and that an in-person interview would decide my fate. That doused the excitement a bit but I rallied them saying I was pretty confident that I can crack the interview, which I really was.
The news spread next door, where my tauji's family lived, he was not home but soon taiji and their daughter Neera came over to congratulate. The conversation shifted to the logistics, like how we were gonna travel and stay in Delhi for the interview. Did I mention the interview was in Delhi, I think I just did.
Let me add some more details so you have the context why I was so excited to be going.
So, we live in Barmer, a pretty backward town in western Rajasthan.
Our family is one of the more reputed families in the area, because my grandpa and great grandpa established a furniture and steel enterprise which has lasted three generations now and is ready to be passed on to the fourth one. Right now my dad manages the furniture arm and my taujis Ram Singh and Shyam Singh manage the steelworks. Ram tauji lives in Jaipur now, where we had a business arm while Shyam tauji and my family resides in Barmer.
Despite the money and the resources to get out of the tier-3 city, we never did. And to be honest, growing up here wasn't so bad, it was after we grew up that things started to change. As I said, my mom is one of those nagging women we hear about in family gatherings, the aunty who rejoices in her nuisance value. There have been times when I have literally wanted to be disowned because of her.
After I hit puberty, her strictures had only grown in severity and rudeness. And now there was hardly a day when we did not fight, which just made me hate her small town mentality and the town we lived in more and more.
Anyways, so one, I was glad for having a chance to get away from this city and explore a new freer one, and two, I wanted to get away from the stifling environment my mom kept creating at home.
I did feel a bit bad for Tisha, because even at eighteen she was just finishing her school because our parents had neglected the third child's education needs till someone pointed those out to them. As a result Tisha was enrolled in school at six, can you believe that!
But I reasoned that in a year or so, she can move out too for her graduation, an opportunity I was only getting after finishing mine in Barmer.
The college interview was scheduled for 2nd April, it was a Friday and I wondered if I would be able to convince my parents to spend the weekend in the big city. So, now that you know my reasons, we come back to the logistics question.
It was decided that we will travel by the nightly train to Jaipur two days before the interview. Stay at Ram tauji's place during the day and then board the Ajmer-New Delhi Shatabdi in the evening. The travel plan itself should give you an idea of the isolation I suffered in Barmer.
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The next two days, I got busy digging up interview questions and watching mock tests online, leaving the travel arrangements to the grown ups.
Papa had delegated the train and hotel bookings to Mathur uncle, his personal assistant of last 15 years or so. As usual, my mom kept pestering him every five minutes "to ask Mathur if the arrangements were made", and "ask Mathur" was already becoming a running joke between us siblings. Finally, on the third evening, papa came home and announced that the tickets were booked and the hotel reservations confirmed.
Seeing that everyone was in a jolly mood, I put in a request I had been contemplating; a small increment in my pocket money for some shopping for the Delhi trip.
My mom exploded immediately.
"Shopping? Why? Didn't you just get the new dresses for Ishika's wedding…?"
I argued that those were traditional dresses where I needed one or two professional looking dresses for the interview and college visits. But my mom kept harping about the clothes I already owned and their sufficiency for the cause.
I had kind of given up, when I caught my father's eye. He was smiling and discreetly pointed to his wallet when mom wasn't looking and I was happy again.
An hour later I pulled a surprised Tisha with me for a visit to the market. When she mentioned how we had no money for the shopping, I revealed dad's card and a small wad of cash to her, and she started with a gleeful yelp.
Who knew then that soon my life was going to change forever.