Till June 2010, I had lived all my life in Delhi. In June, I had to leave Delhi and come to Mumbai because of my father’s transfer. My friend circle, my awesome school, my studies, my complete life was disrupted. I didn’t want to come to Mumbai at all, but even more- I didn’t want to leave Delhi. I would miss all my friends, my school, my teachers, my basketball games… everything. I was going to leave behind so many things which were close to my heart. It was very hard for me to cope with this. But I had to. There was no other option. So, in June, we came to Mumbai. The city didn’t welcome me in the dreamiest way, to say the least - I got a very severe case of typhoid after a week of arriving in Mumbai. And I spent 2 weeks in hospital. So I was able to join school only in mid-July. Joining a new school more than a month late was not all romantic. I didn’t know anyone. And besides, the school was completely different from my previous school, the core difference being that it was a million times smaller. Claustrophobic. It was really hard for me to adjust. On top of that, I was missing my friends, a lot. I felt imprisoned by the injustice of life.
But now, when I look back, I can honestly say, that coming to Mumbai is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. When I joined my new school in Mumbai, I had no friends and there were no distractions which allowed me to stay focused on my studies. Once I got highest grades on few tests, I got a lot of encouragement from my new friends, my teachers and my family. And it was all uphill from there. My grades improved drastically. In middle school, I had been an average student. Now, I became one of the toppers. It was not only academics where I began to excel. When I joined this school, I realized the plethora of opportunities that I had had back in Delhi, and I didn’t use them. Now, when the opportunities were less, I truly began to value them. I decided to fully utilize every opportunity on my way. I began participating in a lot of extracurricular activities. I began going on stage more often than I ever had in my life. This way, I gained a lot of self-confidence. Apart from all this, I discovered one of my true passions after I came to Mumbai- Writing. Life had changed a lot, but it had changed for the better.
If dad hadn’t got transferred, I would have never come to Mumbai, and all these wonderful things would not have happened to me. Of course, it was impossible to see the positive side when I was going to come here. But now, it is very clear that it all happened because I had better things in store for me.
It’s true; you never know what's going to happen tomorrow. As we grow older we become very result-oriented. For each and every thing that we do, if we start worrying whether the dots will connect or not, life would become very difficult. We have no control over the future. We can only control our present. Don’t live for the future, live in the moment and enjoy the journey. Listen to your heart and trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future. " You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards." ~ Steve Jobs
