Ten Things (An Email From Bangalore, India)
This post is kind of out of the blues. Before I started blogging, I’d sometimes send emails to family/friends about my trips while I was on the road. I mentioned here that I spent 2 months in Bangalore, India for work in early 2014. While digging through old emails for something (which I never found), I found this three-year old email. Reading it made me smile, it also made me realize that I still have the same (writing) voice, I think. Everything I wrote about travel still holds true for me. I’m also all mushy and stuff 😉 It ‘be’s’ that way sometimes, I like to feel all the feels! It took me all the way back. For those of you that received the original email, well, just read it again 🙂 Enjoy ‘ten things’
Hola! So it’s been a while since I’ve written. Instead of doing a super long epistle like last time, I tried to make it a little shorter this time. I’ll still write about the Taj Mahal trip and all but here’s what’s on my mind lately:
For me, travel is perspective altering, and life changing, it’s a lot of fun, its exciting. Yes, it is always an adventure, but it’s more than pictures and selfies in exotic locales (granted I’m guilty of taking lots of pictures), food, and other things we’ve seen on lonely planet lists and the endless ‘best travel’ lists. It is making memories, and it is the realization of some childhood dreams that I frankly thought were mostly beyond my reach for most of my younger life.
Most times, words are inadequate to capture the experience, but we (or I) write anyway to share our stories with our friends and family, and to even selfishly to ‘live life twice’ when we revisit our own words one month, two years, or even two days down the line. It can also be tiring, stressful, lonely (if you’re travelling on your own for a long time), disappointing, and soooooo NOT fabulous at times. But that’s all part of the package, that’s what we sign up for. I’ll sign up for this over and over again.
Major Caveat: It’s not the only way to experience any of the above, but it is one that I’ve chosen at this stage in my life.
In the spirit of honesty, Now that I’m halfway through my time here, I thought I’d share two sets of ‘ten things’, the first part is a list of ten things I love about being here. and the other part shows 10 things that I struggle with/miss. Here we go!
Ten Difficult Things
1. I miss my little hole of an apartment, complete with my uncomfortable bed
2. STEAK, heck anything with BEEF. I will be on a strict beef diet for 2 weeks when I return. Ain’t no beef around here (religious reasons)
3. I miss my favorite radio stations for my work commute jams.
4. I miss driving myself around. The whole driver thing is taking some getting used to, especially on random errands. I feel guilty that someone’s waiting while I do whatever like shop on commercial street or stuff my face with Biryani.
5. JOLLOF RICE (:. It might have to be a Steak and Jollof Rice diet when I return
6. I miss guys opening the door and waiting for me to walk out of an elevator first. I’ve been spoiled in the US…I have come to expect it. Doors have been almost closed in my face lately, I better watch it and get my door… haha
7. The pace of work is different, there isn’t the same sense of urgency like there is in the U.S
8. Finding a reputable car company for the Kerala trip I’m planning is taking a lot of time and research (Ugh!)
9. I cannot tell you how many questions I’ve gotten on my ‘relationship status, why I’m not engaged etc. I don’t take offense, I explain…but it’s come up a lot.
10. This one’s easy! I miss YOU!
Ten Things I Love About Being Here
1. The colours!! I don’t think I could ever tire of it. Shopping for fabric/clothing just totally overwhelms me in a good way. Everything is alive and vibrant with colour and I’m like a kid at the candy store!
2. I love that I get to share this and other experiences with the people close to me, through pictures, or emails, whatsapp, or silly videos, or a combination of any of the above. So many would love to be here, I’m fortunate to be in this moment, and more than anything, I want to marinate in it and, remember it, and share it. I realize more and more that the opportunity to share is a big part of why I enjoy this so much. So, thanks for being part of the lucky (or unlucky audience)
3. I love that I’m forced outside of my comfort zone, I notice everything; the sights, the sounds, the smells, the people, the cows, the food, the motorbikes, the traffic, the honking, the pollution
4. I love the warmth and openness of the people I work with here, the openness reminds me of home (Nigeria) in some ways. People invite you into their homes and lives way quicker than would happen in the U.S (not hating, you know I love me some Murrrica). People make time to hang out with me and show me their city on weekends. It means that I don’t stay cooped up in my cozy hotel or only hang with other ‘expats’. It means that I get on the back of a motorcycle or in a rickshaw and I see the city from their perspective. This matters.
5. I love technology!!! It’s amazing to stay in touch with my teams in the US, and my family and friends all over. I kind of feel like I’m eating my cake and having it 🙂
6. I do enjoy having a driver for work, I nap on the 40 minute drive to work
7. Sandals! All designs and colors, and they’re soo affordable! No wonder people here match their kurtas to their sandals and may have more than 20 pairs
8. I love how family is top priority for most people that I have met here. Yes, sometimes it comes off as extreme to me, but there’s something about it that I admire
9. Cheap Lunches and GOOOOOD Food (except for that one MEGA fancy place with rows of Rolls Royce, perfectly dressed waiters, and a RIDICULOUS buffet, the food was good but it wasn’t cheap)!
10. I love how this is a stark reminder of how blessed I’ve been. Sounds cliche, but I do not take any of this for granted, it is of the utmost importance to me that I never do.
11. Bonus: I love how much I’m learning about India, and about myself, about arranged marriages too! (Still hoping I get to attend (gatecrash) a wedding here).
Sooo…What do you enjoy and what do you miss when you’re on the road?
Back to 2017. Aww, I love it, it was such a great time. I did get to gatecrash a wedding . I also got to participate in one of the dance shows….Bollywood style at a team outing 🙂 , because why not? At the end of my stint, the team surprised me with a scrap book from my time in India, some bangles, and a dress. Yes, I cried like a punk. It was so thoughtful and unexpected. The scrap book is in my living room, I flip through it from time to time and remember exactly what was happening at each moment. Maybe I should do a ten things post about moving to the UK from the US too. Hmm.. ideas!!
Typed an entire epistle but I got kicked out cus I’m suspected to be a bot. ?This better go through. Lol I like the list. Sounds like it was both an enjoyable and fulfilling trip. Yes, Post re UK too.
Awww man!!! I’m bummed that we missed your epistle! Write again, now!!! As a previous email recipient, I’m glad you still liked it! I will write about the UK soon, cos e get as e be sometimes!
So glad you wrote things down while you were there. I like the 2104 perspective and 2017. You should do top 10 for UK.
Kormita!!!! Thanks, I’m glad you liked both perspectives. I will do UK!!!
Love the list too, especially the perspective to which they were written. Would definitely be interested in reading about moving to the UK. And that houseboat has got me dreaming of Kerala.. Did you enjoy your trip there?
Thank you!!!! I will definitely write about the UK soon, it was NOT what I expected. Yessss I enjoyed Kerala, it was a short sweet weekend trip. I went on a houseboat ride but didn’t sleep on one overnight though but it just a totally different cool experience!!
I love this post! Thanks for sharing your experience, especially the 10 things you like/ 10 things you miss about your time in India. I think that’s a great – very constructive – way to stay honest with yourself about the downside of your experience while being positive about it. I’m inspired to do the same (privately for now).
Thanks Loriade, I’m glad you enjoyed it!! I really hope you do it (privately or otherwise). I’m really glad I stumbled upon the email because 3 years down the line, I’m filled with so much gratitude for the experience, but also for the opportunity to reflect on those words that still hold true! I agree it’s also helpful (for others) to see the not so glamorous side to things. Thanks for reading and commenting!