Weary Soles

During one of the meetups recently, I mentioned that I have a travel blog where I jot down my experiences and life in the US. This conversation got me thinking about how moving to a new city not only gives you several experiences but also affects your life forever.

I’ve had several big moves in my life so far. The first one being right after high school-from Pune to Coimbatore. Strangely, I wasn’t nervous or scared at all. I was looking forward to it and somehow knew that amazing things are in store for me there. And I was right! 

Coimbatore, a sleepy city at the foothills of Ooty, was different from the big bustling city of Pune in every conceivable way. The society was very conservative, I didn’t speak the language, I had no friends, heck I even had to change my entire wardrobe to suit the traditional environment. But a very strange thing happened. I started to fall in love with it-not overnight, but over time. I truly believe that the place a city holds in your heart depends on the friends you make there. I was blessed to meet an amazing group of friends –on the first day of college. Boy, was I lucky! This group of friends made the torturous college life a wonderful collage of fun filled memories.  I wasn’t made to feel like an outcast for being different or not knowing the language. In fact, I was helped every step of the way. I did not feel the pain of being away from a city that I had grown up in. I started to adapt the language, culture and eventually the soul of the city. So much so that when someone asks me where I am from, I say ‘Coimbatore’ without hesitation.  This city gave me friends, education, job, memories and a confidence to be the best at whatever I wanted. 

The next move came with graduating college. I got my first job and had to move to Hyderabad. From the familiar and sheltered embrace of my adopted home, I had to move to another big city. Somehow, I’m particularly good with dealing with moves and I was looking forward to it with anticipation. No nervousness whatsoever! I expected, rather naively, that Hyderabad had many wonderful things to offer just like Coimbatore. And how wrong I was! I realized that my optimism wasn’t sufficient to deal with the problems of the grown up world like roommates, job, self-discovery, loneliness and the ordeal of groom-hunting. Sure, I had some good times- I traveled quite a bit, made some good friends and enjoyed my work. Above all, I rediscovered old ties that blossomed into deep, meaningful friendship and helped me grow and heal. No surprises there that all these ties somehow belonged to Coimbatore. 

And then I got married! Another move-this time to Bangalore. Need I mention that I was excited and happy about the move? I stayed there exactly for a year and I knew from the beginning that I didn’t belong there. The charm that people associate with this city was lost on me. Maybe I didn’t spend enough time there to explore it fully. My stay was filled with several weekend trips-mostly the mandatory family visits, some fun travel. Coupled with the fact that I was going through a whole new phase in my life, I didn’t have any time to really connect with the city. I didn’t make any friends either so that is also another reason why I have no special memories of this place. The only ones I cherish are the short weekend visits from Hyderabad before I got married.

The most recent move was to the US. I relocated to the San Francisco Bay area almost a year ago. Moving to a strange new country comes with its perks. Exciting places to visit, new cuisines to explore, a different culture to experience and a chance to meet new people and make friends. So far things have been quite good. I have been busy setting up our new house, exploring the different cuisines, traveling to new places. Haven’t really made too many friends around but I’m quite hopeful. Unlike all my previous moves, this one has been the biggest and so I’m willing to give it more time before assessing it. Living in the US has definitely changed my outlook, personality, lifestyle in a lot of different ways but I guess it is still too early. That's a story for another post in the future!