A new city, a new home , new experiences, A NEW YOU!
Yesterday one of our good friends left singapore to settle base at Dubai for a few years, it leaves me feeling a lil' sad and yet excited as they explore a new phase in their lives .
I asked Reema a number of times over the last 2 days, how she felt abt the move, was she excited, nervous, thrilled, sad, apprehensive... mixed feelings...and the only reply I got from her was, " Sim its just a move, i am happy , but "...JUST A MOVE.
I kept telling her imagine as you board and take the flight today, when you wake up you will be in another country ( as normal as it sounds each time we travel) to live there , not as a tourist but as a resident ..exciting , very exciting. Exploring life in a new city, new culture, new people, new friends, new language, new place ...aha! Just imagine when you open the curtains in your hotel room , a new skyline , a new part of the earth welcomes you into its world....NICE Am not quite sure if I was really able to convey the depth , None the less I was super excited with just the thought. It made me happy .. so so so happy .. it was a signal that I was ready to relocate to another country! GOD ARE YOU LISTENING ? ANDY ARE YOU READING THIS:))
As I listen to "Panko Ko " from Rocket Singh..which says" Udne Do .. panko to udne do" I still clearly remember the first time we left India in 2009 to move to Kuala Lumpur, Andy had left before us and we joined him a month later. As I boarded the flight with a 2 year sleeping Naina in my arms, I was a sad, sad about leaving my country,our ageing parents who would now need a VISA to come visit us, my amazing group of friends really more my extended family in the form of Khattar's, Malviya's, the Srivastava's, and Naina's Chacha .. apprehensive about what it would be like to live in a new county , BUT WAS very very excited as a new phase of our life awaited us.
For many days after our move, I always referred to HOME as India , to our 936 sq ft apartment in Mumbai which we bought after saving and saving and saving and which almost felt like it was THE biggest achievement , so what if it was just an hr from the main city away tucked away in powai.. Ha ha ! We owned a piece in MUMBAI.
We met new people in KL from all over the world, caught on to the " Lah" word, got used to the Nyona Cuisine smells, tasted the real real Chinese food , not its Indian version:) discovered new ways of doing jhadu pocha :) and cribbing abt the way its done outside of India... discovered new hobbies, understood different work cultures, people, warmth. None the less, home always meant India.
A now very close friend Ritu who was then living in KL for the last few years told me one evening over chai " Sim I am happy to move out of KL to a new destination, explore new things, set up home" and I thought to myself if I would ever ever have similar feelings, want change fast and leave behind an established base, would I ever be able to call another country my home..i didnt know, an answer I wasn't sure of. I never knew if I would thrive on change and here I am 3.5 years doing just that and feeling the need for change!:)
Just aive .. and suddenly on one of my trips back to KL from India , as our flight touched down at KLIA (KL International Airport), I felt I was home ...I was home , I felt familiar, I felt a warm welcome, smiling faces welcomed me back into a once alien country ... I realised home is where you make it , it is where you set up every thing from scratch ...nurture it with love and warmth for the family to come back to...2 years later we moved to Singapore our current home...I felt just the same as I left KL and took the bus with Naina to Singapore. A new phase , a new discover of Us , awaited Us . As I crossed immigration at the entry point I remember smiling to myself and saying " Bye KL , Hello Singapore :).
Our home now with our latest addition in the form of Anaya is our life .. our joy in singapore as we explore the city and ourselves . Some beautiful moments lived in this part of the world :)
As I look back at this moment , very now, I feel I have matured somewhere inside, become stronger, adaptable, become more comfortable with not always being in my comfort zone, which was very replicatable back in India, more matured to understand that home is not only India, just because I am an Indian and was born there, home is WHERE WE ARE, Home is us together ! I feel very enriched with my experiences of living in different countries, interacting with different cultures, seeing Naina grow up into a sensitive person who respects and understands different cultures, changing her accent to suit the person across and make them comfortable. I beam with pride when she says " "Arigatou gozaimasu" to her japanese friends, and xiexie ne, to her chinese class mates and guard uncles at the guard house and more so when she friends look at me and say " Namaste" something that Naina has taught them. Its lovely to see Naina share notes on hindi with our filipino helper in Tagalog:). Its just so beautiful and makes me realise even more and more as I grow older that each experience is enriching in some way or the other.
Everyone says, going abroad, it will be lovely, good job, money and quality of life but after living out of India for a lil' over 3.5 years I have realised its a lot more than just those 3 things, its new discovery , a new country helps you discover a NEW YOU ! A DIFFERENT YOU ! A GORGEOUS YOU!
I asked Reema a number of times over the last 2 days, how she felt abt the move, was she excited, nervous, thrilled, sad, apprehensive... mixed feelings...and the only reply I got from her was, " Sim its just a move, i am happy , but "...JUST A MOVE.
I kept telling her imagine as you board and take the flight today, when you wake up you will be in another country ( as normal as it sounds each time we travel) to live there , not as a tourist but as a resident ..exciting , very exciting. Exploring life in a new city, new culture, new people, new friends, new language, new place ...aha! Just imagine when you open the curtains in your hotel room , a new skyline , a new part of the earth welcomes you into its world....NICE Am not quite sure if I was really able to convey the depth , None the less I was super excited with just the thought. It made me happy .. so so so happy .. it was a signal that I was ready to relocate to another country! GOD ARE YOU LISTENING ? ANDY ARE YOU READING THIS:))
As I listen to "Panko Ko " from Rocket Singh..which says" Udne Do .. panko to udne do" I still clearly remember the first time we left India in 2009 to move to Kuala Lumpur, Andy had left before us and we joined him a month later. As I boarded the flight with a 2 year sleeping Naina in my arms, I was a sad, sad about leaving my country,our ageing parents who would now need a VISA to come visit us, my amazing group of friends really more my extended family in the form of Khattar's, Malviya's, the Srivastava's, and Naina's Chacha .. apprehensive about what it would be like to live in a new county , BUT WAS very very excited as a new phase of our life awaited us.
We met new people in KL from all over the world, caught on to the " Lah" word, got used to the Nyona Cuisine smells, tasted the real real Chinese food , not its Indian version:) discovered new ways of doing jhadu pocha :) and cribbing abt the way its done outside of India... discovered new hobbies, understood different work cultures, people, warmth. None the less, home always meant India.
A now very close friend Ritu who was then living in KL for the last few years told me one evening over chai " Sim I am happy to move out of KL to a new destination, explore new things, set up home" and I thought to myself if I would ever ever have similar feelings, want change fast and leave behind an established base, would I ever be able to call another country my home..i didnt know, an answer I wasn't sure of. I never knew if I would thrive on change and here I am 3.5 years doing just that and feeling the need for change!:)
Just aive .. and suddenly on one of my trips back to KL from India , as our flight touched down at KLIA (KL International Airport), I felt I was home ...I was home , I felt familiar, I felt a warm welcome, smiling faces welcomed me back into a once alien country ... I realised home is where you make it , it is where you set up every thing from scratch ...nurture it with love and warmth for the family to come back to...2 years later we moved to Singapore our current home...I felt just the same as I left KL and took the bus with Naina to Singapore. A new phase , a new discover of Us , awaited Us . As I crossed immigration at the entry point I remember smiling to myself and saying " Bye KL , Hello Singapore :).
Our home now with our latest addition in the form of Anaya is our life .. our joy in singapore as we explore the city and ourselves . Some beautiful moments lived in this part of the world :)
As I look back at this moment , very now, I feel I have matured somewhere inside, become stronger, adaptable, become more comfortable with not always being in my comfort zone, which was very replicatable back in India, more matured to understand that home is not only India, just because I am an Indian and was born there, home is WHERE WE ARE, Home is us together ! I feel very enriched with my experiences of living in different countries, interacting with different cultures, seeing Naina grow up into a sensitive person who respects and understands different cultures, changing her accent to suit the person across and make them comfortable. I beam with pride when she says " "Arigatou gozaimasu" to her japanese friends, and xiexie ne, to her chinese class mates and guard uncles at the guard house and more so when she friends look at me and say " Namaste" something that Naina has taught them. Its lovely to see Naina share notes on hindi with our filipino helper in Tagalog:). Its just so beautiful and makes me realise even more and more as I grow older that each experience is enriching in some way or the other.
Everyone says, going abroad, it will be lovely, good job, money and quality of life but after living out of India for a lil' over 3.5 years I have realised its a lot more than just those 3 things, its new discovery , a new country helps you discover a NEW YOU ! A DIFFERENT YOU ! A GORGEOUS YOU!
Another thing i really like abt moving away frm friends, to newer cities, is we then have multiple homes.. we now hv homes in Mumbai, Blr and Singapore... how many can boast of this ??? :-)
ReplyDeletebut the saddest part is... miss you loads Sim... :-(