यथा काष्ठम च काष्ठम च ...

I am spending last few weeks in US. Its been a hugely fulfilling year in more than one way. The decision to come here was a difficult one, especially considering the factors like my work, Lavanya's schooling etc. But in the retrospect, I am happy that we took this plunge.

There are a few things, which I think, made our stay here worthwhile; 'A lot of family time' tops the list. American work culture (generally 9 to 6, no work on weekends, option of working from home once in a while etc) made it possible for Neeraj to spend a good amount of time at home. The travel to and from office was almost negligible negating work related stress even further. Setting up a home (with limited resources, though), evening outings, weekend vacations, long drives, cooking sessions, making crafts projects- everything just added-up to make this time a lot more purposeful and memorable.

Library was another thing that I absolutely enjoyed. If someone asks me to define 'a rich and a developed country', I would simply put it as - the country that can create and protect good libraries, museums and parks. This might sound a little cynical, but I mean it. Since these countries have been able to meet all the basic needs of their people, they can move up the chain and think of their emotional and intellectual needs. Our public library has an unbelievable collection of books, magazines, reference books, DVDs, music, toys, games which made us possible to live through difficult winters and days thereafter. I and Lavanya literally exploited it.

Another very important thing happened to me : I honed my house keeping and culinary skills to a reasonable extent. It only means now I have moved from 'Red' to 'Black' which still is a great achievement. Earlier, if I am expecting guests, I would start planning (read : worrying) at least a week in advance, go over all the arrangement, keep planning and re-planning the menu, cook some of it in advance (& freeze it). But now those butterflies and anxiety attacks have disappeared. Having learnt a few 'tricks of the trade', inviting guests over or cooking meal of 5 doesn't look like a daunting task. In the absence of other support structure (which we take for granted in India) like maid, home delivery from provision stores, 'istriwala', doodhwala, subjiwala etc - you tend to develop your own mechanism of dealing with the situation and it goes a long way in making you more efficient and confident about managing large and sundry household chores.

During our short stay, we were still able to visit a good part of East coast of US. Besides the must-see like NY-DC- Niagara, we could also visit, a gorgeous Province Town and Martha's Vineyard at Cape Cod, serene beaches at Block Island, and New Hampshire for its enchanting fall colours.

Above all of this, my stay here gave me some great friends for life. Here friends actually became our family – Home away from home. Socialising was a more positive and a meaningful experience. Potluck meals, theme parties, baby showers, birthday parties (actually grownups looked forward to 'bdday parties' more than the kids), festival celebrations, team outings were the 'most looked forward to' events simply because they were the great opportunities to meet up. Leave alone the 'Fun' part, but these people made our life so much better, not just by 'doing things for us' but 'being there for us'.

For me, the saddest part of leaving America is leaving these friends behind. But then, I guess everything happens for a reason. May be we had some unfinished business to settle from our past lives, may be we had to tally our balance sheet of Karma. God alone knows…

There is a beautiful Subhashit in Sanskrit

यथा काष्ठम च काष्ठम च, समेयाताम महोदधौ /
समेत्य च व्यपेयाताम, तद्वत़ भूत समागमः //

It means, "In this universe; we are like wooden logs, floating in an ocean. A wave brings us closer, we sail together for some time; till a large wave separates us again."

I am going back to the super-charged life- full of action, a lot of hoo-la-hoo, I-will-get-back-first-thing-in-the-morning, PPTs, emails, meeting requests, Lavanya's school, relatives coming over, marriages to attend and social obligations to fulfill. While I am all excited to be a part of this rigmarole, I am immensely satisfied about the 'ultra cool'(Literally and figuratively) year that I spend in America.

As they say here - So long...