The Routes That Raised Me: From School Gates to Bikanerwala, Taj, and Back to Chandigarh
We think we choose our paths. But sometimes, the path chooses us, then changes us, then sends us forward as someone new. Mine started in a school corridor and has wound its way through college lecture halls, the buzzing counters of Bikanerwala in Chandigarh, the quiet luxury of Taj in the mountains, and now back to the planned streets of Chandigarh. Here’s what each stop took from me, and what it gave back. School: The World With Four Walls School was certainty. The same bell, same bench, same friends who knew my tiffin before I opened it. Life was divided into periods and the biggest risk was forgetting your homework. I was safe there. Predictable. I measured worth in red ticks and gold stars. I thought growing up meant getting taller, not getting lost. School taught me discipline, yes, but it also taught me to fear mistakes. I didn’t know then that mistakes are where the real syllabus begins. When I left, I thought I was ready for the world. I wasn’t. But...
