After listening to re-elected President Obama's victory speech and the mention of American dream, many thoughts started crawling in my head. I thought about my blog and writing something about my perception of this place. Then I thought why not give some excercise to my brain and recall my first few week's experience of being in this country. More specifically, I will talk about people here. It's been awhile since I am living in “THE” United States of America, also known as Amreeka by many of our fellows back home. When I did my undergrad in my home country and started working, I had no plans, even in my wildest of dreams of settling in States, but as one of the Beatles famous song written by John Lennon says "There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be..". Destiny takes you wherever it has to (I know many don't..but I believe in destiny and that everything happens for a reason). So, destiny held my hand and brought me here, in a tiring, almost 24 hours flight... sigh!
I remember the day I landed here, it was night so its like, I took my flight when it was dark and landed when it was night. Well, I was told, welcome to America and another time zone. Everything here was extremely different from the country where I belong to. Actually, I was excited couple of days before I had to fly, but when I came here, I was not for some reason. All the excitement succumbed to the pain of leaving behind my family, my friends and my home, miles away. Yeah..I am an emotional person.Today, I accept this publicly... lol.
Ok.. I didn't tell that it was freaking cold here that day. It was March and temperature must be -15 degree C at that time.There was some good amount of snow on the roadsides, which was obviously not too fascinating, considering my emotional mindset and the long journey. My body was not accustomed to such extremities but I guess I easily adapted to freezing, chilling cold. That made me think, there could be some truth in that non-proven theory which said, humans evolved only because they could adapt to the change in the environments. I too followed my religion of being human.
Ok.. I didn't tell that it was freaking cold here that day. It was March and temperature must be -15 degree C at that time.There was some good amount of snow on the roadsides, which was obviously not too fascinating, considering my emotional mindset and the long journey. My body was not accustomed to such extremities but I guess I easily adapted to freezing, chilling cold. That made me think, there could be some truth in that non-proven theory which said, humans evolved only because they could adapt to the change in the environments. I too followed my religion of being human.
The next few days went just like that, unpacking and trying to figure out few things at home. So there I go, in my new apartment, no wide open windows that would let gush of wind come inside as it was back in my parents place, it was wide though but with a mesh behind a sliding glass door; there were switches which are actually ON when in OFF state (according to my knowledge that time.. funny..it took awhile to train my brain); a nice backyard with a view of dense trees which looked scary in the night; the walls were fine. I got to know from few friends here that, there are apartments where insulation is not good, so you can even hear whispers of your neighbors talking in adjacent apartment.That was weird !
Jet lag was going off in a week or so and I was coming back to senses and back to life. I used to go for walks alone to explore this new world. I was appreciating things like the weather, clean wide roads, clear sky, peacefulness and mostly the snow which made this place looked so beautiful, just serene and pure. I am a nature lover. It feels like a blessing from God. It was one such day. I was on a stroll and there was a lady coming from the other side. When we crossed each other, she smiled at me and said “Hi”. With a bit of hesitation, I returned back the “Hi”, but I had no clue why would any stranger do that. There is zero probability that she knew me because this place was strange to me and so was I to this place. The similar things happened again that week and then I learnt that people here live this way. They do small talk when in a queue or in a bus riding together, they appreciate your dress, your accessories, give their opinions sometimes and it doesn’t matter if you know each other or not, bus drivers smile and greet you when you get into or get off the bus, people say thank you to the driver for giving them the ride. Despite of that people are sensitive towards each other’s privacy and personal space and they respect that. Nobody judges you with the kind of clothes you wear or how your appearance is. There is no discrimination on the basis of your financial status, your caste, race or the country you belong to. I feel good and I guess everyone does or rather most of us does. I know people who have the habit of complaining and criticizing about things might not agree with me. There are many others things too but I guess I will close it here. As always, whatever I told is not generic, exceptions are always there but who cares. When someone smiles, I smile back too. Why not.. After all Smile is Contagious. A smile can make a bad day better. Every happiness begins with a smile.
As Mother Teresa said, "Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing". So what's the harm in exchanging free gifts everyday. I don't mind ;)
I have lived here substantial amount of time but only thing I miss, being here, is my family and my old friends. I wish if everybody was here. I try to keep in touch with most of them but still I am sorry, if I was not able to do that. I guess, they don't judge me even if I don't call them for long, that’s why they are my friends still and forever. Moreover, nowadays grad school is keeping me more than occupied so finding time becomes difficult. Hmm..thinking of which....Being a student in US could be another topic to talk about but got to go now since I have an exam next week !!
I love this place and it is my home, till the time I am here. After all, Home is where the heart is.
My heart is with my love and my Love is here ;)
Again. Thanks for reading.
Luv
#Neetu
