8:36 to Union Station

All it takes is 24 hours and a new world and possibly a new life stand in front of me. Through my jet-lagged eyes piercing from a body heavily wrapped up and my groggy legs that set foot on the icy tarmac, the enormity of change strikes me…

A familiar face… my close friend… confused emotions… happiness, relief and a wish to take the next available flight home...

The first few things that I notice on my cab ride “home”… traffic on the right side (wrong side for me really), petrol (or gas) less expensive than diesel, no blaring horns, signs and instructions all around bordering on paranoia, no potholes and a chill in the air that could kill…

Quick stopover at “home”… quick round of introductions with my room-mate… first impressions… nice guy… relief the most overwhelming emotion encountered… Step 1 cleared…

A delightfully cooked Indian meal at my friend’s home… me refreshed but a deep sense of detachment lingers… my sense of humor also fails me… my loss of conversation disconcerts my friend… for once I unable to comfort her…

I sleep a jet-lagged sleep… wake up more disoriented… need groceries.... visit a nearby store with my friend…. The same emotion… too much change to register and by the way why can’t they have lesser varieties of waffles? Waffles incidentally become a big part of my life… I begin my day with them…. People have more choices in waffles than newspapers… anyways who cares... I move on… the aisle of bottled water beckons…

My office I notice is in downtown… a concept as yet unknown to me… from my conversations with colleagues and friends; I stumble onto my own definition:
Downtown: You work here and it has all the nice places that you can’t visit till you have a car coz it’s not safe…

Speaking of car, no Zen here for me… bus and metro will have to do…. It feels horrible on the first few days even with company around….. there is no comfort of peths, nagars and colonies… addresses like so and so boulevard, this and that plaza seem too distant to absorb… somewhere in the maze of Wellston, Rock Road, Delmar, the heart craves for Aundh, Wakad, Kothrud….

Must it be so hard?

Human beings have a wonderful way of moving on with life and thankfully I don’t prove an exception to this….

It takes the most mundane thing to help me realize this... coffee… I stumble from my sense of despair… wake up and smell the coffee… this is the land of Starbucks… the land of consumerism, the land where all the case studies of Kotler came from… wake up and explore the world… I warm up to the brands and the malls and the promise of the American dream. The place provides me the ability to see a “better” me, a concept that keeps me pre-occupied. I enroll myself at the snazziest gym in town. Colleagues call me home for “Pongal” dinner. I discover the heavenly bakery treats on offer. Manage to find the locations of the best Thai and Mexican restaurant in town. Start looking for the best deals on offer in Shnucks, try my hand at picking up Spanish. It helps immensely that Americans are a friendly community… their smiles warm up the heart…. They also like my sense of humor :) or atleast most do…

Life I realize is not bad just a bit different. So what if it’s a few degrees colder than back home, so what if no understands expletives in Hindi, so what if milk is available in gallons and not liters … loved ones are still a message, mail or call away:). The heart has the ability to transcend the longest of physical distances…

Comforted by these thoughts and the central heating I snuggle into a peaceful sleep in my blanket or the comforter as they call it here:)

Next morning, I find myself on the 8:36 to Union… I smile as I gaze at the billboard of a popular Vodka brand… “Life is calling. Where are you?”… I smile and thank God for this opportunity…