To a New Continent

The following was a long mass email that went out to friends earlier this year when I moved to a new continent. I have complained about the uncertainities of life, but like in Jhumpa Lahri's story, 'The Third and Final Continent' in An Interpreter of Maladies, sometimes all this is beyond my imagination. It feels like someone else's life. Becuase I had only dreamt of seeing every nook and corner of India and writing about it. But life, destiny and many other factors flew me to far off places.

And a few years after leaving home, home became an elusive term. It became a feeling and not a place, it was a memory that could be triggered by a sight, a smell, a smile.

Simply Sweden

Dear All:

Guys, this is 862 words, read it at your leisure. Write back and be patient if I cannot write right away. This goes out to my friends spread across the globe.

Wish a very late happy new year. And an update you on my whereabouts.

The last 6-8 months have been crazy for me. Made some snap decisions and somehow landed up in yet another continent.

Europe. Scandinavia. Sweden.

The permanent address will take a while. The official email. ---

I will be working at ---- University & will have to learn the language (tried playing wheel of fortune in Swedish and failed!! :(()

They have a great Global Media Studies program that impressed me. And since I can’t do anything else, I teach. Thankfully I enjoy it very much.

And I was all set to move to North America. Such is my journey on this planet -this time around!!

Predictability is -35!! Visibility is Zilch!!

You know, when we were in 3rd grade among other things in grammar class we learnt the ‘opposites’.

"Right-wrong, top-bottom, light-dark, north-south. At some point the process got intuitive important/unimportant literate/illiterate….

Well, Fiji----Sweden sounds right.

It is January end and they are just ending their fall semester. The spring semester starts the next week. The classes go on till June etc.

There is stark contrast in the amount of light we get as opposed to Fiji, which is pretty much constant in sunlight and daylight year around.

A week before I arrived it went down to -21 C.

As a friend from Indiana said, "Wisconsin is one of the few places where global warming is appreciated."

Yeah, and Sweden is another!!

I have circled around the globe almost twice this year.

And may I just say that movement is great if you have a base, which I don't. Everytime I’ve to make the painful decision of what to hang on to and what to let go of.

Yet, I have taught myself to savor this uncertainty. But often am in a whirlpool of doubts. And ask the supposed sane questions, "while my friends are working on publications, and, building a home, I have not been able to organize for the last decade because of movement. Still do not know whether I need a velvet covered rocking chair or a beach chair. What should I collect that will help in the long run...help me be efficient and productive….

Since my woolens lay alone for nearly four years, I started to give them away. Now my beautiful collection of sarongs and shell jewelry will seem useless.

I give up.

And yet I am prepared to experience the new place. The people are lovely and warm!! The topography is so much like Pennsylvania!!

Only I realize when I cant read the ingredients on a jam bottle that it would be good to learn the language.

And I must state that I will not trade the friends I have made in Fiji for anything. And there is no other way than to have this uncertainty to meet a great bunch of people in such a short time.

So am grateful for this magic, which leaves a cloud of confusion. But when it parts, I am surrounded by some familiar faces, who do not mind sticking by my side.

I will write as often as I can, and you do the same. The next few weeks will be hectic for me. While I have written a record of nearly 450 letters a year, even in candle light (my previous life in Africa), I find it hard to keep up with all the emails now. So have started a blog. www.insearchofahome2009.blogspot.com I called myself, “the accidentally seasoned Hobo but will change it to my name so that people can find it easily. 

I, like anyone interested in writing am hungry for readers, so follow the blog, read it, make comments, silly ones are welcome…..and keep in touch.

I carry all of you in my heart.

A very happy spring to you in the northern hemisphere, those in the southern hemisphere, well enjoy the rest of the summer.

And ….for the weather forecast from here...

all the leaves are brown

and the sky is grey

I've been for a walk

on a winter's day

I'd be safe and warm

if I was in L.A/ OR FIJI….

California Dreamin'

on such a winter's day

It was -17 C today….Ah, warmer than -21!!!

“What is -20 in Fahrenheit?” I asked my landlord who is a Ph.D. student in Chemical engineering. Despite years in Fiji I still measure in Fahrenheit and write Month before the date.

The young man said very gently but very firmly “You know we think Fahrenheit is silly”

“Really, why is that?” I expected a scientific answer from a scientist.

“Because Celsius was Swedish”

Simple people, simple philosophy, Simply Sweden!!