Its 1847hrs GMT on 8th July 06 and I am on my way back to India, to work as one might say. But I feel the last 3 weeks have been....breathtaking. I know it might sound a little inappropriate for someone to call 3 weeks as a breathtaking period- one might die in that long a period of one's breath taken away! (Its a poor joke and you are expected to laugh at it..good that you atleast smiled)
But the last 3 weeks have been breathtaking when I think of them and the time I had and how I feel I have personally evolved. And the evolution is what makes it so beautiful when I look back at my time in the UK. I have certainly developed a bias for Scottish people (women, in particular- courtesy Ms.AS- I wish her all the luck and hope to write a Mrs. preceeding her name sometime soon). And its been like this amazing awakening of sorts. For a lot of things. I saw stuff that I have heard people say and brag about and to say that I was hesitant to start with would be an understatement. But as time went by I evolved, didnt feel out of place, and then enjoyed it all.The openess of people is what struck me first. And by that I mean, what we refer to as, 'public display of private emotions'. And dont take me wrongly, I truly believe people can be different and cultures, beliefs, rights, wrongs, all this can differ from place to place and culture to culture . And this was one such place. Too see people kiss in public was so touching (no puns intended:)) by the sheer fact that holding the emotion and conveying it to the one who mattered seemed more important than anything else was so romantic that words fail me. It was beautiful.
Independence that people have and how they promote it is amazing, I used to eat at one Subway almost daily for 3 weeks (the working team there-Agatha, Magda, Sunny, Shepherd and Becky) and I found that one of them was just 17, works there and lives off his money and lives away from his parents. Another one came from India, yes, Ahmedabad to be precise, and although his dad had enough money he still wants to work @ Subway and burn his ass off because he wants to. Without getting into the debate of why independence, the pros and cons, I'd like to limit my commentary to the fact of the belief in independence and self-dependence. And I think I got to learn something for how I'd like my kids to grow up.
People of all age and sizes (yes, and I mean all sizes) have a ball come Friday night. I just found it lovely (after the initial shock, courtesy my 'background' and on discovering contradictions to what we are taught to be 'right' and 'expected out of people of such age') that old people dont just loose the spirit of life. Again, without going in detail of the causes and repurcussions, because thats not what I want to write about, what I found most enchanting was people enjoying their lives, or atleast they seemed to. I think this is something we need to learn as a culture, yes, we need to respect the elderly but shouldnt, as we usually do, rob them off their identities. Being honest, I cant think of my maternal grandma and grandpa of anything more than people responsile for bringing a generation in this world, one of whom brought me in this world. For selfish reasons, we tend to ignore their reasons for existence, assuming they have any. But each one, and I mean each and everyone, should have the right to live in ways them deem fit and by means that deem fit.
My workplace was just wonderful, and when I mention this towards the end it doesnt, by any strech of imagination, mean that I will remember it as the least important. I met competent people, I saw a lot, and I mean 'A LOT' of Asian looking faces and how they had been accepted into the workplace. The openess of the organisation is commendable and I saw what it means to say being an 'equal opportunity employer'.And then there was AS. I wouldnt elaborate on her as a person more than the fact that she is the one of the most competent people I've seen at their work, terribly proud of her work and her pride in standing for what she thinks is right. I felt parts of me in her. That is till I found out that partner shares his date of birth with me. And we got talking about him (rather she talked about him and I talked about how I am) and it came to the verge of it being scary how much we have in common. But it was delightful. I wish to have her as a friend for life and wish her with all my heart all the happiness that is possible in this world.
Being in the Uk was cool, yet I feel having grown out of the want to have been 'somewhere in the west'. I'd love to come back here or enjoy some place else if life gave me another chance but I dont see myself craving for it now. I felt a lot during this trip ( and I'd skip the list of what all I 'felt' to maintain the sanctity of this writeup:)) and I think I have evolved and see myself better than 3 weeks back-more cosmopolitan, less shy of being metrosexual, more accomodating for other's opinions-still as rigid in mine, though- and more tolerant of people's incompetencies!
Thats quite a list, eh? God bless me!!!
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