Everyone of my brothers who were left in Chennai came to see me off at the airport to depart to a distant land. A land of opportunities, realizations and much more. As much as i hated leaving them and going, i will not lie, i had this sense of excitement in me to see a new place, meet new people, live life in a new way. Immigration, customs, and soon i was up up and away, leaving behind much more than just memories.
I landed up in the land of dreams amidst the dainty statue of liberty to gain entry. Once i had gained entry, it was a long long flight to the other coast with 2 pit stops in the middle. If you ask me how i felt seeing the new culture and people, i can use the three i's, intelligent, imminent from where i came and intimidating.
After a long journey to Portland with the hectic travel and all the mental struggle, i was in one sentence just ready for a bed that had been made ready for me by a certain genius i would stay with during my stint there.
I knew the genius from Chennai, not for long though, but enough for us to relate to each other. I had reached on a Sunday, and a hectic work schedule lay in front of me from day one to end of stay, but i never realized that even in such a hectic period i would have adequate fun.
Living with the genius was a different ball game altogether. He was a genius and me a mere mortal, but the greatness in him was that he never portrayed himself as a genius, maybe the style off all such people. I knew i would never be a genius, but i still learnt that to be humble is a blessing and to spread knowledge while being humble is a greater virtue.
Work was hectic, life was tough, but we had a great time. From going on drives on long weekends (dangerous drives though) to the coast and landing up on top off the hills, to simply producing cd after cd of every movie that we wanted to see, to having intellectual conversations, to creating web services that could torture the Google server, to just keeping quiet and listening to music we did it all. For me it was living an American dream, for the genius it was living a part of his youth, but it was great and that's all i can say. We had our differences, and we understood when to stop and when to continue. It was going amazingly well, but then life has many turns.
One day the clients informed me that i was going back to India since they did not have the money to keep me here. I went back home to see a face which looked more disappointed than mine and that was the genius's. He even tried to trade places with me in going back to keep me here, but nothing worked, and we were celebrating my last Friday night in Portland on some nice wine when Mr X called me.
I knew Mr X from my Chennai days and he was even more flabbergasted as to how i had agreed to go back from the so called land of dreams. He did weave some magic over the next few hours, and i soon realized that i was here to stay for some more time in a place called Nashville.
Soon Monday morning approached, and i left behind the genius and some great time behind me and moved on to Nashville. On flight i kept wondering what awaited me there, i never knew and i would never know till i reached there. I had spoken about the silver period of life before, it was about to be the golden period.
Dedicated to the Genius and Mr X and to everyone in Portland i spent time with.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment