Kind of late to start writing a blog?? Never have i kept a journal. Never have i jotted down anything. Then why am i doing this now? I dont exactly know. I think i know myself well, so if things go normal, i might write for a few days and then just give up. Not because i dont have anything else to write about, but just that i might be bored with this and no longer find this appealing.
Anyway, this is me. The one in the picture. Travelling in a suburban train in chennai. I love trains and yeah i can spend days in a train. I can have the most peaceful sleep in a train. I have so many memorable train journeys to write about, but my number one train journey was on August 9th, 2005.
More about that later. Not right now. now i just miss life in India. Been away from home for a very long time now. Miss the food, friends, climate, sweat and yeah, trains ofcourse. I have been in the USA for close to two years now and i am excited each night as i lay in bed to sleep because i know that when i wake up i will be one more day closer to going home. Well, if i dont like it here that much, then why am i still here???? Good question. I have to admit that i do not dislike this place. I do like it and it has its own advantages and i have tried my best to fit into this alien culture as much as i can and yes, to an extend i have been successful. I am a surviver and i can survive anywhere and that is what has kept me going. Right now i am making the best use of my opportunities.
I have in my hands an opportunity that most people in India dont have. A lot of people want to come over to the USA to realize their dreams and most of them never make it and here i am complaining about being here. What right do i have to behave this way? Well, like i said before, i am going to make the best out of this and i am going to learn as much as i can about this culture and country. As much as i would like to learn from here, i would also like to teach. There is a lot of things that people here can learn from me, or Indians in general. Now i am not much of a talker and i find it very difficult to start a conversation. Very few people ever talk with me about my country. Most of them dont care. Some are afraid that their ignorance will be brutally exposed.
Lunch time at the cafeteria is something that i look forward to each day when i am in college. Not because of the food, but because of the chance i get to sit down with people, hoping that someone will ask me something about my country and my culture. Most times i have left the cafeteria feeling disappointed. Who would want to hear about an ancient culture when they would rather talk about the NFL and NBA. Oh, i do love sports, but cricket is my game and i have tried explaining the game to people here and they just cannot comprehend how a team can play a game for five days, from morning to evening and at the end of the fifth day walk off without a result. Well anyway, there are one or two people in my college who take the time to ask me more about my country and culture.
These are some of the conversations that i enjoy the most and look forward to. I must admit that i have never ever felt the need to talk so much about my country. I guess like many other indians back in India, i just took it for granted and assumed that it was something not worth talking about. I have new ideas and beliefs and i wake up each day as a new person. Im happy now. Lets wait and see what the day holds for me when i wake up tomorrow morning.
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