A disappointing event at her first Services Selection Board (SSB) interview in Bhopal led a young woman to blame the entire city and vow never to return. But life, with its impeccable sense of irony, had other plans. Today, she is married to a man from Bhopal and finds herself returning to the very lake where she once cried.
The Beginning of a Grudge
The author's relationship with Bhopal began with heartbreak. She came to the city for her first SSB interview for the Judge Advocate General (JAG) entry into the Army. She failed to clear it and, in her desolation, held the city responsible. Standing near the old rail engine overlooking Bada Talaab (Upper Lake), she cried in front of her bewildered father and made him promise they would never return. She even declared she would not travel on any train that passed through Bhopal, unaware that a remarkable number of Indian trains pass through the city daily.
An Impractical Vow
Considering how Indian railway routes work, her vow was highly impractical, but heartbreak rarely concerns itself with practicality. For years, Bhopal remained in her mind as the city that had rejected her. Then life, with its impeccable sense of irony, played one of its favourite jokes. Years later, she fell in love with a man from Central India. The twist? He belonged to Bhopal, the city she had found wanting. It felt as though the universe was deliberately trying to make a point.
A New Chapter by Bada Talaab
Today, she is married to that Bhopali. Sometimes, when they sit by Bada Talaab, she smiles thinking about the young woman who blamed an entire city for one failed interview. She wants to tell her that life is far more strange and creative. She could never have imagined that the same lake would one day witness a very different version of her life. Richa Jaswal Kushwah now calls Bhopal home, a city that quietly waited for her to stop resisting.
