On a pseudo winter morning of January 6, 2014 at around 4 am, I embarked upon a journey of my lifetime. Heading to the huge aircraft, I had mixed thoughts about this whole setup. Going abroad even for 3 months is an opportunity for anyone and everyone in India. Parents, friends and kins were happy and excited - heck, even more excited than I ever was. I never dreamed of visiting the States - not that I didn't like to travel - but this never appealed to me. India itself has been very mysterious and lovely to explore and the more I see, the more I get fascinated.
I was the first child in my family of 17 people (joint family- don't get any ideas here) to go out to study in another city. Everyone had come to the railway station to bid goodbye to a new beginning which ensured I could never return to my hometown (atleast for a foreseeable future and its been almost 6 years now). That moment was in its true sense, heartbreaking and motivating. This trip itself is no less. Though nobody could come to see me off - because I was 20 hrs away from them to say the least, this wasn't hard for me. I have moved to enough locations myself to manage and workaround my ways and I think this learning is absolutely essential for everyone to move forward, take risks and be confident.
Coming back to my point of not having the dream of moving to the US, I have always been fascinated by my own country much more than anything else. I do know that there are shortcomings - large gaps and big problems; but which country doesn't? If we keep this aside, India has always been my favorite - cricket, hockey, the Olympics, even though we knew we wont win, the hope didn't die. Maybe I am the different kind because a lot of my folks dream of this life - free of tensions, easy going, scheduled and most of all, rule bound society and I say bound because now I know that people get blind in routine. India has always been superior to this nation - not in its infrastructure or the way it is run but in pure intellectual power. Even the basics here need to be taught whereas we come laden with so much knowledge that we (in our own way), practically rule them!
Since the time I have come here, everyone who sees me cannot believe that I am not the usual amazed and dazzled by this free thinking society. They ask me whether I like this or not and what are my thoughts about it and my reaction is always the same - yeah, its cool. And that's all. They think I maybe showing off or something but this really is nothing apart from moving to another city in India. There certainly are many reasons for this behavior - I am surrounded by Indians all around including the office and the home; I travel mainly with my senior, a super nice fellow who has taken care of me as his own kid; I am used to speaking and trying to communicate in either English or signals and so on. Its not that big a deal for me to actually setup things from scratch and managing my own way. Granted that there are some very fundamental differences in the way this nation functions as compared to the way India is but like I said, I am too comfortable to notice the difference.
With this, I am signing off from this post but will surely write more upon my travels and thoughts as and when they happen.
I was the first child in my family of 17 people (joint family- don't get any ideas here) to go out to study in another city. Everyone had come to the railway station to bid goodbye to a new beginning which ensured I could never return to my hometown (atleast for a foreseeable future and its been almost 6 years now). That moment was in its true sense, heartbreaking and motivating. This trip itself is no less. Though nobody could come to see me off - because I was 20 hrs away from them to say the least, this wasn't hard for me. I have moved to enough locations myself to manage and workaround my ways and I think this learning is absolutely essential for everyone to move forward, take risks and be confident.
Coming back to my point of not having the dream of moving to the US, I have always been fascinated by my own country much more than anything else. I do know that there are shortcomings - large gaps and big problems; but which country doesn't? If we keep this aside, India has always been my favorite - cricket, hockey, the Olympics, even though we knew we wont win, the hope didn't die. Maybe I am the different kind because a lot of my folks dream of this life - free of tensions, easy going, scheduled and most of all, rule bound society and I say bound because now I know that people get blind in routine. India has always been superior to this nation - not in its infrastructure or the way it is run but in pure intellectual power. Even the basics here need to be taught whereas we come laden with so much knowledge that we (in our own way), practically rule them!
Since the time I have come here, everyone who sees me cannot believe that I am not the usual amazed and dazzled by this free thinking society. They ask me whether I like this or not and what are my thoughts about it and my reaction is always the same - yeah, its cool. And that's all. They think I maybe showing off or something but this really is nothing apart from moving to another city in India. There certainly are many reasons for this behavior - I am surrounded by Indians all around including the office and the home; I travel mainly with my senior, a super nice fellow who has taken care of me as his own kid; I am used to speaking and trying to communicate in either English or signals and so on. Its not that big a deal for me to actually setup things from scratch and managing my own way. Granted that there are some very fundamental differences in the way this nation functions as compared to the way India is but like I said, I am too comfortable to notice the difference.
With this, I am signing off from this post but will surely write more upon my travels and thoughts as and when they happen.
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