Sometimes in your life, you encounter the same state of mind or situation more than once. I am experiencing the same today. Years back, while I was living in Mumbai, often, I would feel, why couldn't not dad come here earlier to this town?
We moved to Mumbai in the summer of 1980, daddy had moved here a year earlier. After completion of our academic term, we ( my younger brother, mom and me) joined him. Compared to the monotonous life of Nagpur, Mumbai had many things to offer. Also I was just out of School and joined my Junior College. It was huge jump for me, from a small city School like Somalwar to the talk of the town College like St.Xaviers and that too from a conservative city like Nagpur to a cosmopolitan town like Mumbai. I could not expect better from life. For me, life had taken a dramatic turn, I felt. New city, new customs, new friends, new environment everything was new for me. Bombay, which is called the land of opportunities.
Daddy had come on deputation to the Provident Fund Office in Bandra now called as Bandra Kurla Complex. I remember the first time we visited his office, that was immediately after we had arrived in Bombay and we were waiting for him to come out of the huge building, it was very windy that afternoon so much so that it actually blew us. It was a lifetime experience and I remember telling my mother now, ' I know, in most movies, why those actresses had their hair and skirts blowing up? ' I assumed most movies were shot in Bombay, which is also known as Bollywood.
With the passing of days, I slowly started adjusting to the new Bombay culture. I learnt, how having a rented space to live in Bombay was a complete luxury, apart from owning it. I also learnt from others Bombay had a law in favour of the tenants, those who came prior to 1972 and had taken a room or a space on rent, after passing of this law, did become the new owner of that room or that space. All this made me think very hard, perhaps sad, why could not my father come to Bombay early in his life?
Today...I am facing the same dilemma in my mind. I am in the US since March 2015 and I see and read a lot about this country everyday. This country is the land of immigrants. Those who left their own country for better or worse and came here, made a fortune here and are living here. US is the much sought of country in the world, an apple of the eye, I need not say more. Coming here is a dream for most and I am actually here. The immigration laws were quite liberal until recently, but now, they have made these laws extremely stringent and there are so much paper work and uncertainty to go through and many ifs and buts for us to remain in this country. We enthusiastically did start the paper work, but had to give up given the timeline to go through the whole procedure. Staying and working here for a long period in this land of opportunities has become a distant dream.
Then again, the same question haunts me, " If only we could have come earlier to this country".
We moved to Mumbai in the summer of 1980, daddy had moved here a year earlier. After completion of our academic term, we ( my younger brother, mom and me) joined him. Compared to the monotonous life of Nagpur, Mumbai had many things to offer. Also I was just out of School and joined my Junior College. It was huge jump for me, from a small city School like Somalwar to the talk of the town College like St.Xaviers and that too from a conservative city like Nagpur to a cosmopolitan town like Mumbai. I could not expect better from life. For me, life had taken a dramatic turn, I felt. New city, new customs, new friends, new environment everything was new for me. Bombay, which is called the land of opportunities.
Daddy had come on deputation to the Provident Fund Office in Bandra now called as Bandra Kurla Complex. I remember the first time we visited his office, that was immediately after we had arrived in Bombay and we were waiting for him to come out of the huge building, it was very windy that afternoon so much so that it actually blew us. It was a lifetime experience and I remember telling my mother now, ' I know, in most movies, why those actresses had their hair and skirts blowing up? ' I assumed most movies were shot in Bombay, which is also known as Bollywood.
With the passing of days, I slowly started adjusting to the new Bombay culture. I learnt, how having a rented space to live in Bombay was a complete luxury, apart from owning it. I also learnt from others Bombay had a law in favour of the tenants, those who came prior to 1972 and had taken a room or a space on rent, after passing of this law, did become the new owner of that room or that space. All this made me think very hard, perhaps sad, why could not my father come to Bombay early in his life?
Today...I am facing the same dilemma in my mind. I am in the US since March 2015 and I see and read a lot about this country everyday. This country is the land of immigrants. Those who left their own country for better or worse and came here, made a fortune here and are living here. US is the much sought of country in the world, an apple of the eye, I need not say more. Coming here is a dream for most and I am actually here. The immigration laws were quite liberal until recently, but now, they have made these laws extremely stringent and there are so much paper work and uncertainty to go through and many ifs and buts for us to remain in this country. We enthusiastically did start the paper work, but had to give up given the timeline to go through the whole procedure. Staying and working here for a long period in this land of opportunities has become a distant dream.
Then again, the same question haunts me, " If only we could have come earlier to this country".
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