There has to be a bug called gypsy bug because I am pretty sure it has bit me. I realized it 10 years later when I finally had to settle down in one place, city and area. My dislike for the city that has now caged me within its premises, is an evidence of it. Short trips lasting for 7, 10, 15 days to new places - cities, states, countries do not quench the thirst of this bug. It can only be satisfied with stays that last longer than few months stretching to even years. It didn't happen by design but by chance.
Step by step I moved away from the permanency of my home, away from the warmth and security of my parents, sibling and ventured into the harsh cold and testing world. I am not being judgmental in calling the world, harsh cold and testing; look back to when you were still in your teens and if you haven't stayed alone in a fast moving city then just try and imagine how it could be. Can you imagine the change of environment, culture and living conditions when you move from a 2nd tier city which can pass off as a town, in East India to directly the capital of the country?
But this piece is not to discuss the cultural shock or the adjustments that I went through due to the drastic change of living conditions. This piece is about my realization about the bug.
As I think about it now, I realize that this bug helped me gain the courage to move alone to different parts of the country and even abroad. With no guardian in Delhi, my parents had great difficulty letting me go and study, 1000s of km away from them. It also probably strengthened them, which is why they were not as worried when I moved for a year to the far far West.
With 4 years of living in the most unsafe city of India and then having vanished from sight for a year there were no doubts about my shift to West of India, for work. While my parents grew used to the away from home daughter, I settled down with a picture of my life as a wanderer. Most people grow weary of the thought of moving and not being able to settle in one place, I was fond of the very non-permanency and exposure to varied cultures and its people.
Today as I am finally settled in South-India, post blissful marriage I think atleast I have covered a full circle of the country; how many Indian women still, get the liberty of doing so alone and so young. I know many dream to settle in this hill-station like city that I now call home but my heart keeps thinking how will I ever spend more than 3-4 years in the same place? I have never done that in my entire young adult life! How does it feel knowing a city through and through, because I have never stayed long enough in one city to know it end to end.
My gypsy bug craves to settle in a new city, to observe a new culture, to hear a new language, to absorb a bit more of our diverse country. While others wish to settle, my gypsy bug keeps threatening me that this is the end of my learning about the people settled in different parts of India.
But I know how to keep my gypsy bug in control, it now has learnt to look at the world through those books lined up in the book shelf, reading the testimony of many gypsy minds like mine.
Step by step I moved away from the permanency of my home, away from the warmth and security of my parents, sibling and ventured into the harsh cold and testing world. I am not being judgmental in calling the world, harsh cold and testing; look back to when you were still in your teens and if you haven't stayed alone in a fast moving city then just try and imagine how it could be. Can you imagine the change of environment, culture and living conditions when you move from a 2nd tier city which can pass off as a town, in East India to directly the capital of the country?
But this piece is not to discuss the cultural shock or the adjustments that I went through due to the drastic change of living conditions. This piece is about my realization about the bug.
As I think about it now, I realize that this bug helped me gain the courage to move alone to different parts of the country and even abroad. With no guardian in Delhi, my parents had great difficulty letting me go and study, 1000s of km away from them. It also probably strengthened them, which is why they were not as worried when I moved for a year to the far far West.
With 4 years of living in the most unsafe city of India and then having vanished from sight for a year there were no doubts about my shift to West of India, for work. While my parents grew used to the away from home daughter, I settled down with a picture of my life as a wanderer. Most people grow weary of the thought of moving and not being able to settle in one place, I was fond of the very non-permanency and exposure to varied cultures and its people.
Today as I am finally settled in South-India, post blissful marriage I think atleast I have covered a full circle of the country; how many Indian women still, get the liberty of doing so alone and so young. I know many dream to settle in this hill-station like city that I now call home but my heart keeps thinking how will I ever spend more than 3-4 years in the same place? I have never done that in my entire young adult life! How does it feel knowing a city through and through, because I have never stayed long enough in one city to know it end to end.
My gypsy bug craves to settle in a new city, to observe a new culture, to hear a new language, to absorb a bit more of our diverse country. While others wish to settle, my gypsy bug keeps threatening me that this is the end of my learning about the people settled in different parts of India.
But I know how to keep my gypsy bug in control, it now has learnt to look at the world through those books lined up in the book shelf, reading the testimony of many gypsy minds like mine.
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