Yatra- The Journey

Whenever one moves out of a familiar zone and into new surroundings, finding people with similar mindset and making them our friends becomes an important part of the transition . Due to certain planetary motions, I have been moving places practically all my life with a deep yearning inside for the magical word called ‘settlement’ (more so now as I have completed nearly four decades of existence as a mortal). Whenever, I have faced a change in my environment the brigade of my well-wishers specially give me a call and ask “Friends ‘bane’?”(Have you made friends?). When I say “Yes”, it is usually followed by a sigh of relief from the other side. Well, looking at it deeply, the fact we are looking for friends in a new unfamiliar environment carries variety of implications: 1.        We crave for a sense of belonging means we look for people with whom we feel we can identify and share our lives with. We first hesitatingly let them in our private space a...

I Belong Therefore I Am Life has been a tumultuous experience for me in the last four years. We have moved 4 times across 3 countries in the last three years, owing to the professional moves of my partner and this has in turn provided me with an opportunity to observe people and life very closely. We all have this opportunity in our daily life but it is usually hidden behind a large boundary wall of routine, the gate to which is gently unlocked when we are snapped out of our habit and surroundings in some way. Although, some people e.g. a good theatre actor, are naturally very observant about people and situations and use that observation later to recreate that experience magically on stage. I remember a friend who is a counselor by profession, telling me when I was moving for the first time, “It’s amazing that you are moving, and you must go because you have to break this mould of self-identification with your environment that you have hopelessly identified with. However, reckon h...