Living Like A Nobody

18 How Fast is Time?

The days spent in Jeddah were some of the best ones for her. Maybe it was the place or the age but she felt like she had finally settled into her own skin. Its hard to understand where you belong and whom you belong with when you have moved around so much. But at this point of time Esha decided that she would belong with the other oddballs who were her friends.
Even now when she wants to remember a fun memory, the flashbacks are more from Jeddah than any other time. And most precious of all memories is the lesser friction between her parents. It was as if they were coming to an understanding that things need to change if they wanted to stay happy.  Infact her mother had decided that when Esha goes for higer education she will also return back to India and stay. And maybe just maybe her father would finally become the ideal husband.
Time waits for no one. It just keeps going on and on. Catching up with it is a dream. Some think that being punctual means they are going along with time.  But Esha thought it was a misconception. You can never be with time.  Its too fluid and changes so often that just being punctual or adaptable does not ensure timeliness. You think you are settling into a rhythm and suddenly your life is uprooted.  Happens to the best of us.  Esha had seen this enough to forever be wary of it. So that the next time it feels like changing she would be prepared for it.
And it was right to think so. Afterall school was getting over,  it was time to look for college. She will have to get back to India and face the changes that happened in the last 8 years.
The hunt for college started off pretty good.  They found some great colleges and filled the applications. But the major issue was which area to apply in? She didn't want to get back to her own state. They were the furthest people from the culture she was used to.  She couldn't go towards north. They had the highest crime rate( which ended up being the biggest irony later). The last choice was south.  So her father helped her out with colleges in Hyderabad and Bangalore. This turned out to be one the better times that her father thought of helping out. Although he seemed to estimate that Esha would not be capable of getting into a good one because he always wrote her expected marks of 12th just shy of 1st class.
Fate works in mysterious ways. Even after applying to various colleges neither Esha nor her parents seemed satisfied. And then one day Esha's father comes back from a conference nobody knew about with a bunch of college names.  These were colleges which had participated in the conference and boasted of having international reach. Her mother caught one name in the brochures "Alliance University ". All three of them loved the college website and the things it offered. Also it was one of the only ones which still had applications open. And so started the whole process of applying again.  This time Esha wrote her expected score to be 80% as the results were not out( It turned out she scored exactly 80% in her 12th the biggest coincidence). She was selected for the interview and after having a telephone conversation and a face to face meet she was ready to start a new journey.  It would be both different and difficult because she will be finally out of the house and into hostels. Pushed out of the comfort zone how long can a person survive or is adaptability a thing you learn with time. Life is all about challenges and how you conquer them. So sit back and watch life play this game of chess.....