A new beginning...a new life... and a few new challenges :))
It has been a little over a month now since life’s U-turn to ‘Swades’ and it already feels like it’s been ages. In the beginning, life threw many a hurdles across our way when we were trying to give a fresh start to our lives all over again. You can say that we had a crash course of what all problems can be faced in day-to-day life, in less than a month!
Second hurdle came in the form of the apartment that we had leased. Never in my life I’d seen an apartment so unclean that it made me wanted to just flee from there, there and then! This time, me and my hubby joined hands to began 'mission cleaning' and somehow succeeded in tidying up the entire house and making it livable. Phew! Another formidable hitch triumphed. By now we already knew that this is not going to be a bed of roses for either of us and we fretfully wonder “what next?” !
Just as we thought that things are finally settling down and the house almost getting organized, we had another obstacle coming our way. No electricity for two and a half days at a stretch! Yeah even we thought that such things don’t happen in metro cities anymore but once again we were proved wrong and how! For almost three days we felt like we were living in a pre-electricity era without TV, Laptops, Internet, Refrigerator, Lights & fans and all other electronic equipments. Life seemed kinda lost without each of these things and didn’t know how to live on without them all. Add to that, after almost days of living without power the cylinder gas also exhausted on us! So at this point in time, we were utterly helpless as we couldn’t even cook, not even prepare a cup of tea. As a result, now all we had left to do was to wait…endlessly! For electricity, for gas, for a ray of sunshine (yeah it was also raining continuously since the power-cut due to which we were stuck at home and couldn’t venture out also!)
Finally, the wait (which seemed like an eternity) did end after 4-5 days of endurance. A ray of hope did come through only to get overshadowed by dark clouds soon after! The day we got our electricity and gas back, our ‘bai’ backed out the very next day..:P Whoa! What a task it is to maintain and run behind the maids to ensure that they do their job efficiently…Seriously! I feel more stressed out in doing just this in contrast to when I used to do the whole of household and cleaning work by myself! Well, whatever the reason, the bottom line is you cannot survive without a maid in this country! And I’m still learning the ropes of how to handle them tactfully.
Well, so after experiencing all these major hurdles, we now officially hold a masters degree in disaster management! LOL! Though now things are finally settling down and it seems the jinx has passed for now (hopefully…touchwood! ) and we are getting into our normal routines. But still there are times when we miss our life there in the states. Ironically, we were so eager and desperate to come back to our home country when we were there and now that we are finally home we crave for and miss those things/conveniences that we had become so used to there! Why is it always like that that you long for or miss something only after you lose it and does not realize its worth when you have got it, I wonder?? When we are kids, we long to become adults… When we become adults we wish we were still children! I suppose that’s what we call human nature…always running behind something that he doesn’t possess at the moment! Well, despite all the odds, we still aren’t dejected and yet hope and believe that things will work out for the better and in our favor, someday! After all, this is where we belong and this is where we are destined to be…and where we want to be!
It all began with the day I left for the city of virtue, to join my husband who works there, and it went on to become the worst journey of my life, ever! Had never imagined that traveling in a second AC coach could become a nightmare for anyone! Or rather a day mare (if there’s such a word!) as it was a day train and had roaches and rats as my travel companions! Yikes! To this day, it still brings a shudder even as I think about it! I don’t know how I endured it for 10 hours and managed to sit through the entire journey fighting the desperate urge to get off at the next station, whichever it might be! Well, evidently, I somehow lived to tell the tale (and to write about the horrid experience on my blog for the world to know :P) and thinking that the worst is over. Little did I know that it was just the beginning!
Just as we thought that things are finally settling down and the house almost getting organized, we had another obstacle coming our way. No electricity for two and a half days at a stretch! Yeah even we thought that such things don’t happen in metro cities anymore but once again we were proved wrong and how! For almost three days we felt like we were living in a pre-electricity era without TV, Laptops, Internet, Refrigerator, Lights & fans and all other electronic equipments. Life seemed kinda lost without each of these things and didn’t know how to live on without them all. Add to that, after almost days of living without power the cylinder gas also exhausted on us! So at this point in time, we were utterly helpless as we couldn’t even cook, not even prepare a cup of tea. As a result, now all we had left to do was to wait…endlessly! For electricity, for gas, for a ray of sunshine (yeah it was also raining continuously since the power-cut due to which we were stuck at home and couldn’t venture out also!)
Finally, the wait (which seemed like an eternity) did end after 4-5 days of endurance. A ray of hope did come through only to get overshadowed by dark clouds soon after! The day we got our electricity and gas back, our ‘bai’ backed out the very next day..:P Whoa! What a task it is to maintain and run behind the maids to ensure that they do their job efficiently…Seriously! I feel more stressed out in doing just this in contrast to when I used to do the whole of household and cleaning work by myself! Well, whatever the reason, the bottom line is you cannot survive without a maid in this country! And I’m still learning the ropes of how to handle them tactfully.
Well, so after experiencing all these major hurdles, we now officially hold a masters degree in disaster management! LOL! Though now things are finally settling down and it seems the jinx has passed for now (hopefully…touchwood! ) and we are getting into our normal routines. But still there are times when we miss our life there in the states. Ironically, we were so eager and desperate to come back to our home country when we were there and now that we are finally home we crave for and miss those things/conveniences that we had become so used to there! Why is it always like that that you long for or miss something only after you lose it and does not realize its worth when you have got it, I wonder?? When we are kids, we long to become adults… When we become adults we wish we were still children! I suppose that’s what we call human nature…always running behind something that he doesn’t possess at the moment! Well, despite all the odds, we still aren’t dejected and yet hope and believe that things will work out for the better and in our favor, someday! After all, this is where we belong and this is where we are destined to be…and where we want to be!
Absolutely, agree with your optimism in the last few lines.
ReplyDeleteloved your post...I smiled all through :) :)
ReplyDeletePS: we are planning to return to India in a couple of months ;) ;)
Thank you! Oh wow... feels good to know someone will soon be sailing in the same boat as I!! :P Good luck with your move!
ReplyDelete