Thursday, December 21, 2006

A roller-coaster day!!

Went to work at 7 am today. I was to give Marilena's birthday present to her in advance was very excited about it. I really like her a lot. She is from Caracas, Venezuela and is an intern pharmacist here. She has the kind of personality I admire and we have gotten along perfectly. But I found out today that she had not passed her Boards. Very sad and definitely unfair!!! I hope she can pull herself together and get it done next time, she deserves to be happy!!

Then i called up my supervisor to tell her about my decision and talked to her for about 45 mins. She was gracious about it, understanding and supportive. It went very well. So my last day will be 18th Jan- that will be 5 years to the date that I started working for Longs. I never thought I would say this, but I am going to miss Longs. I had an awesome time here, even through the darkest, stressful days, people have been supportive and helpful. I love being with people helping them and playing a part in their lives. I know so much about so many, and it is a amazing that so many people open up to me and take me into their lives. They send me flowers, candy write me thank-you notes...it is truly humbling. I hope i can continue to do something like this where i help people, make a difference , even when i go back to India.

Then in the evening i went to Anagha's place to tell her the news and also met Oli and of course they were shocked! But she said that she had a feeling we were upto something, since we sold our basa-basaya house gave up Jake. ( I miss Jake!! :-( . I hope he is happy.)
They had the same sentiments like a lot of others, Oli said he is amazed at our guts and that he wished he could do something like this. So, is it all about guts, courage? Why do you need courage to go back home? Shouldn't that be the first an foremost concern in the mind of every non-resident Indian - to go home, one day. If the opportunity presents itself, is it not common sense that you choose that path even though that means going against the popular wisdom of "life is always better in US than India?" I am sure a lot of our friends have saved up enough moeny that if they wanted to, they could pack up and leave, today. And just imagine, even if just a few of the very well educated, independent thinking, " global Indians" decided to go back home and put their talents to use, what a wonderful world it would be!! Wishful thinking? Day dreaming? I don't know. (Dreaming, after all, is my birth-right!) We will see, zindagi hame kis manzar tak pahuchayegi!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I must say this is a very good idea... you can ramble on any topic and since R2I is the topic of the moment I would like to quote Mandela - there is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways you yourself have altered.

S

Unknown said...

Good start to your blog, keep it going. I must say when I heard about your decision to go back, I was a little surprised, but there were clues for the last couple of months that something was cooking :-) We had a long chat with Parth yesterday. I was telling him its weird how things fall into place, you just have to be willing to try something new. In fact you have given us a new perspective and even gotten us thinking about R2I. We'll use your experiences to make our decision in a couple of years :-)

Anonymous said...

Well! You finally started writing, albit thro a blog nevertheless. Neddless to mention how happy we are that you all will be back here where we can meet you, whereever u r in India, unlike back there when we u all were in the US of A. I know how much you and dear Partha have deliberated on the decision and I m pretty sure that everything is going to be just great! Yours has been a journey of success in the US and we (u know I can't think of my own, your aai just butts-in,(no pun intended!). I will not say that this is a courageous decision. It is a well-thought one. One has to take risk in life to make a prescence and as long as these r planned to the extent covering foreseen eventualities, this is OK. Key lies in extending your horizons. As I used to tell to Chintu, Aim for Moon, even u fail, u will b among stars.

I always belive in this famous 'sher' of Iqbal

' Khud hi ko kar buland itna
ke her tehrir se pehle
khuda khud apne bande se puche
ke bata teri raza kya hai'

I am very sure that your customers will b missing u. I was always proud of u inheriting my traits of being humble.

U and Partha have been an ideal couple. I was very touched by Partha's comments on your role in his decisions in one of his messages.

I liked very much your thoughts in your blog. With such huge writing talents, I urge you to extend your writing skills. It is said that 'brown-skins' have a better chance of getting a Booker's Prize!

Love

Baba