Just another post on interaction encounters

I just wanted to ramble a little bit here before the clock struck 12 since today, the auspicious Christmas day marks the beginning of my virtual chatter, the third anniversary. Funny how time flies. Although I haven't customized many thoughts, I remember how I started this when I was a kid back then.

There are a lot of things I need to ooze out in the form of writing before I talk about anything here in this blog but one a-mazing experience precedes all else. It stands out amongst the clutter of interesting and not-so-interesting incidents I've had in the new life I began three months ago. I'm sure many of you out there would agree with me, it's all about meeting new people. It's SO intriguing how a short meeting with some person or people in general can -- change perceptions, set us thinking, keep ideas flowing, give new direction to solving problems, have a profound impact in our lives. These periods of interaction of any kind, is in my opinion very engaging and more often than not, symbiotic. There is so much to learn from every person we meet!

The anecdotes of meeting people in my school - academia comes later. Recently, I've been meeting immigrants who are well settled in this alien land for quite sometime. Bazillion thoughts cross my head during such encounters! They all seem happy to work for a "small" start-up, happy to meet people from their motherland occasionally, happy to learn cooking from some random mami's videos on youtube, happy to buy frozen food from the desi store, happy to discuss restaurants/ cloth stores/ lifestyle here,  happy with a couple of kids each, happy to see their kids speak a heavily accented mother-tongue or just plain accented English, happy to get them educated in a system that encourages questioning, happy to listen to them sing vara veena...

There are a few inspiring people in the lot. But being a highly principled being (or portraying myself as one), some questions kept thronging inside. Am I seeing a decade or two older self in these people? Do I have the stomach to become an alien to MY home, MY place back in the country? Will all the seemingly unpleasant things become the most acquainted ones sooner or later? Will I also "enjoy" watching the next gen growing up the way I see the kids here, now...?

Not wanting to think about these and with the satisfaction of scribbling, wishing a Merry Christmas to all!

The lost habits...

I know I'm supposed to complete the hypotheses I began in the previous post. But before that, I am trying to search for the lost me. The habits that constitute what I am. Or in fact the habits that used to define me. Old habits die hard they say. I have been proving it wrong and I seriously think it is bad habits that die hard. They are easy to cultivate and difficult to get out of. Something of a dangerous addiction. On musing about this issue, I encounter a few stunning revelations. Being disoriented, muddled, grouchy, bellyaching and so on and on and on..whoa, these have replaced my old self!  Now this is like being stuck in a rut; escaping from these centrifuge of actions depends on..er..no points for guessing, ya, it's just me!
Hoping to finish the housing hypotheses as I have had some more interesting experiences since last time. And it's time to move on with the fillers. What I should've been writing about. What it feels like to be out of my safe haven. The travails of looking for a person to work with in a classroom full of experienced people. The shock I went through on realizing I am not going to learn enough in the time span that a quarter revolves around. The hectic madness it all turns out to be. The disgusting use of toilet paper. The cold blast of wind making me numb and the frustratingly angled sunshine failing to make me warm. OH... there we go.. I just said I should stop doing this.
Okay, I have to make it sound like this: What is feels like to be independent. The exposure gained by belonging to a diverse classroom. The feverishly exciting pace at which things function here making me learn some tactics for managing the ever so precious time. The water conservation tendency that looms at large (which is good! it's a resource to be conserved! in future, we are going to face water-wars!). The pleasant weather with a tinge of the La Jolla Sun shining down on me, ever so mildly.. This is heaven on earth.
Sigh.