From Delhi to Gurugram

I had come to Delhi for the first time after finishing college.

You don't really understand how different college life is until you leave it.

College is a small world.

You have a few close friends.

A fixed routine.

The same places.

The same people.

You know where you're going and who you'll meet.

And most importantly—

you know that if something goes wrong, you have your people around you.

That was my life too.

My college was in Amritsar.

After graduation, I had to move to Delhi for my first job.

My job location was in Gurugram, so I had to travel almost an hour every day from Delhi to Gurugram.

Luckily, I had a college friend with me.

He had been my support system since college.

So, in the beginning, everything felt manageable.

But after some time, I found a hostel in Gurugram.

It was time to move.

And that's when things started changing inside me.

On the day I had to leave my room in Delhi, I was packing my things.

As I looked around the room, a lot of thoughts suddenly started running through my mind.

"What if my new roommate isn't good?"

"What if we don't get along?"

"What if I feel completely alone there?"

"How will I live alone in a new place?"

The more I thought, the more anxious I became.

The strange thing was—

nothing had even happened yet.

I hadn't met my roommate.

I hadn't even started living in the hostel.

But my mind was already trying to solve problems that might never even happen.

I picked up my last bag and walked out of my room.

As I closed the door, I felt strangely empty.

It felt like I wasn't just leaving a room.

I was leaving an entire chapter of my life behind.

My college life.

My friends.

The comfort of familiarity.

That small world where everything felt known.

And now, ahead of me, was a completely new city.

And a lot of unfamiliar faces.

The Journey

I got on the metro.

Delhi to Gurugram.

My mind was still stuck on all those questions.

I was so stressed that I took out a chocolate from my bag and started eating it.

Maybe I didn't really need the chocolate.

Maybe I just needed something to take my mind away from everything I was thinking about.

Then I noticed a girl sitting beside me.

She was calmly reading a book.

She knew nothing about my anxiety.

Nothing about my new city.

And I knew nothing about her.

She was just a stranger sitting beside me.

I don't know what made me do it.

I was already eating the chocolate, so I simply offered some to her.

She looked at me.

Then at the chocolate.

And took it.

That's how the conversation started.

I don't remember what exactly we talked about.

But I remember one thing—

after a while, I had completely forgotten about my anxiety.

A few minutes earlier, my mind was creating endless possibilities about everything that could go wrong.

Now, I was simply talking to a stranger.

For a little while, I forgot that I was moving to a new city.

I forgot that I was scared.

And I realized something—

Maybe I wasn't as alone as my mind had made me believe.

Settling In

I reached Gurugram.

I reached the hostel.

I met my roommate.

And another fear disappeared.

He was a good person.

We got along easily.

The roommate I had been worrying about throughout the journey wasn't a problem at all.

That night, lying in my new room, I thought about my day.

In the morning, I had so many questions.

By evening, most of them didn't even matter anymore.

That's when I understood something.

We often get scared of things that haven't even happened yet.

Our minds fill the empty spaces with fear.

"What if this happens?"

"What if that goes wrong?"

"What if I can't handle it?"

And slowly, we start suffering because of problems that may never even come.

That journey from Delhi to Gurugram wasn't just a journey from one city to another.

For me, it was my first real step from college into life.

I was leaving behind the small and comfortable world of college and entering a world where nothing was already decided.

Where you have to find new people.

Build new relationships.

Learn to be uncomfortable.

And most importantly—

learn to live with your own fears.

Looking back now, I realize that I wasn't really afraid of going to Gurugram.

I was afraid of the story I had created in my own head about what might happen there.

I didn't know what my roommate would be like.

I didn't know what the new city would feel like.

I didn't know whether I would feel lonely.

But I learned one thing that day—

Not everything unfamiliar is bad.

Sometimes, a chocolate you are eating because you're stressed can start a conversation with a complete stranger.

Sometimes, a stranger can become a good roommate.

And sometimes, the road we are most afraid to take is the road that helps us grow the most.

Maybe that's how life works.

It shows you the road.

Then it scares you.

And eventually, it teaches you—

"Don't be so afraid. You are capable of handling much more than you think."

I had come to Delhi for the first time after finishing college.

You don't really understand how different college life is until you leave it.

College is a small world.

You have a few close friends.

A fixed routine.

The same places.

The same people.

You know where you're going and who you'll meet.

And most importantly—

you know that if something goes wrong, you have your people around you.

That was my life too.

My college was in Amritsar.

After graduation, I had to move to Delhi for my first job.

My job location was in Gurugram, so I had to travel almost an hour every day from Delhi to Gurugram.

Luckily, I had a college friend with me.

He had been my support system since college.

So, in the beginning, everything felt manageable.

But after some time, I found a hostel in Gurugram.

It was time to move.

And that's when things started changing inside me.

On the day I had to leave my room in Delhi, I was packing my things.

As I looked around the room, a lot of thoughts suddenly started running through my mind.

"What if my new roommate isn't good?"

"What if we don't get along?"

"What if I feel completely alone there?"

"How will I live alone in a new place?"

The more I thought, the more anxious I became.

The strange thing was—

nothing had even happened yet.

I hadn't met my roommate.

I hadn't even started living in the hostel.

But my mind was already trying to solve problems that might never even happen.

I picked up my last bag and walked out of my room.

As I closed the door, I felt strangely empty.

It felt like I wasn't just leaving a room.

I was leaving an entire chapter of my life behind.

My college life.

My friends.

The comfort of familiarity.

That small world where everything felt known.

And now, ahead of me, was a completely new city.

And a lot of unfamiliar faces.

The Journey

I got on the metro.

Delhi to Gurugram.

My mind was still stuck on all those questions.

I was so stressed that I took out a chocolate from my bag and started eating it.

Maybe I didn't really need the chocolate.

Maybe I just needed something to take my mind away from everything I was thinking about.

Then I noticed a girl sitting beside me.

She was calmly reading a book.

She knew nothing about my anxiety.

Nothing about my new city.

And I knew nothing about her.

She was just a stranger sitting beside me.

I don't know what made me do it.

I was already eating the chocolate, so I simply offered some to her.

She looked at me.

Then at the chocolate.

And took it.

That's how the conversation started.

I don't remember what exactly we talked about.

But I remember one thing—

after a while, I had completely forgotten about my anxiety.

A few minutes earlier, my mind was creating endless possibilities about everything that could go wrong.

Now, I was simply talking to a stranger.

For a little while, I forgot that I was moving to a new city.

I forgot that I was scared.

And I realized something—

Maybe I wasn't as alone as my mind had made me believe.

Settling In

I reached Gurugram.

I reached the hostel.

I met my roommate.

And another fear disappeared.

He was a good person.

We got along easily.

The roommate I had been worrying about throughout the journey wasn't a problem at all.

That night, lying in my new room, I thought about my day.

In the morning, I had so many questions.

By evening, most of them didn't even matter anymore.

That's when I understood something.

We often get scared of things that haven't even happened yet.

Our minds fill the empty spaces with fear.

"What if this happens?"

"What if that goes wrong?"

"What if I can't handle it?"

And slowly, we start suffering because of problems that may never even come.

That journey from Delhi to Gurugram wasn't just a journey from one city to another.

For me, it was my first real step from college into life.

I was leaving behind the small and comfortable world of college and entering a world where nothing was already decided.

Where you have to find new people.

Build new relationships.

Learn to be uncomfortable.

And most importantly—

learn to live with your own fears.

Looking back now, I realize that I wasn't really afraid of going to Gurugram.

I was afraid of the story I had created in my own head about what might happen there.

I didn't know what my roommate would be like.

I didn't know what the new city would feel like.

I didn't know whether I would feel lonely.

But I learned one thing that day—

Not everything unfamiliar is bad.

Sometimes, a chocolate you are eating because you're stressed can start a conversation with a complete stranger.

Sometimes, a stranger can become a good roommate.

And sometimes, the road we are most afraid to take is the road that helps us grow the most.

Maybe that's how life works.

It shows you the road.

Then it scares you.

And eventually, it teaches you—

"Don't be so afraid. You are capable of handling much more than you think."