Enjoy the Joyride!!

October 9th, 2005 – I reach Detroit. Around 4:00 pm EST. And like I’d mentioned in one of my previous blogs – a little humbled. That’s when the joyride began. With a little warning for me to buckle up. From the airport to the suite. Through all the subsequent days that I was there in Detroit. Troy, actually.

Let’s see the things that I’ve been up to all this while – work, obviously. And lots of meetings. Hoo boy. Way too many meetings actually.
But the real life was out of all that. On the freeways (I absolutely love that word), driving like a mad woman. In the Tango classes, dancing like one. In that quiet little place called Troy, generally fooling around like one. And in California and St. Louis and New York and Dayton being the mad woman that I actually am.

In the four months of my stay in the US, I came to understand and learn quite a lot of things. I understood, for instance, what the hype of living and working in US was all about. And might I say, it’s quite justified. The place is nice and convenient and all that jazz. The sense of independence that it gives you is quite overwhelming. And if you can manage that, you’re good to go. I really am not sure if a lot of people will really count that as one of the things that working in US teaches you. I do, because independence is something I’ve always sought. And of course, this is my blog not anybody else’s. ;-)

Plus I got a reaffirmation on the importance of families and friends. And how much one depends on them. Seems quite contradictory to what I just wrote. But it’s so true. And however much I try to ignore their say in my life, at the end of it, I know I’m kidding myself. Can I live without seeing them every once in a while (if not everyday)? No. Can I live without talking to them everyday? No. What then was that independence bullshit I was talking about? I wont bother explaining; coz my family members and friends know what I mean. And if other commoners do too, then congratulations! You just passed the first test of being included in that elite class of people who are, you know, smart. :-)

I also realized the importance of planning. That is not to say I’ve learnt how to plan and stuff; but hopefully I will in due course of time. To think of it, I am still confused as to whether I should plan my life and my actions that would govern my life, so that it looks like I am living like my calendar or my planner; or should I let my life lead me to wherever it wants me to go, so that every step is an adventure. It wouldn’t really take a Sherlock Holmes to deduce that so far I’ve subscribed to the latter school of thought. But then, of late, I have seen the difference that “planning” makes to everyday living. One of these days, I’ll make up my mind. I did buy quite some cosmetics from the US. ;-)

And of course, I realized that I CAN cook. Not the gourmet sort of stuff. Leave that to the others; someone must be there to eat it and enjoy it too ;-). But yeah the daily, mundane stuff that keeps you alive for the better part of your life. Heaven be praised. That’s one more item off my checklist. :-)

And I learnt the beauty of the expression called dance. It’s probably among the more honest forms of expressions. You really can’t hide yourself when you are dancing. If you are really dancing that is. Because bodies don’t lie. I can feel something and say something else. Possibly the same with what I write. But with dancing, it’s tough.

What else. Can’t remember more right now. Because I am so flooded with the memories of what the past four months were like. Right now, February 4th, 10:12 am GMT, I am sitting at the Heathrow airport on my way back home. This is the same route that I took while coming to Detroit. And I am carrying the excess baggage of my stay there inside my head. Somewhere inside me I wish I were on a connecting flight to Detroit instead of Delhi. But being the mad woman that I am, I want everything. I want to go home and then back to Detroit. And though it’s not currently on my “calendar”, let’s see if it comes as another adventure that life offers me. That’s the one (joy)ride I wouldn’t mind being taken for. :-)


~K.

ps: The time zone in the blog is back to IST ;-)