The weekend was pleasant and with lots to do...and I still have more stuff to take care of at home. In about a week's time my parents will be here :-) and will stay till mid may! The plan is that Vedant will be going back with them to spend his vacations and later in June, Rajiv and I will also join them for two weeks before getting Vedant back home in time to join school :-). I'll be going to my parent's place after quite a few years and I am looking forward to it. It's in the state of Tripura in the North East...and despite it being a small town and being quite laid back...I like visiting the place and meeting up all my relatives and cousins...and there are many of them there!
The pics above show the location of Tripura in India!:-)
Not many people seem to be aware of the North Eastern States...least of all Tripura! A rather funny incident happened when I was studying in Assam (another North Eastern State...in fact the most prominent one I guess) and one of my teachers asked me which state I belonged to...and I answered "Tripura" and she smiled and said..."wo toh south mei ha na?!"... (that's in the south...of india...right??!) ... I didn't know if she was serious or joking! Agreed she herself was from the state of UP (north) but she had been living and teaching in Assam for a longg time! and nopes she wasn't our geography teacher!!...
Another incident happened here in Delhi and yes I do feel a lot of ppl here tend to get all their facts mixed up about the north east. A friend was in the process of filling up forms at a medical college here in Delhi and the man at the admissions office though not very conversant in english insisted on talking to her in english presuming she didn't know hindi...a general and common misconception amongst north indians that ppl from the north east do not know hindi!...and she kept talking to him in hindi...! and this guy ends up sayin..."aap toh chinese ho na?"....duhh!!! ...
Well...after I got done with my graduation here in Delhi I went home for a year (home is Agartala...the capital of Tripura) where I worked at the front office of a reputed computer training institute....the funny thing about this job was that I was required to counsel young students in Bengali...and fact is, my bengali sucked and still does!....I can just about manage a sentence and that too after thinking and speaking real slow!! Most of the time I would have people gaping at me...! But I loved my work there and I also ended up getting very involved with a whole lot of activities at the center. It was the first time I had spent more than two months in my home town!...and I learnt a lot from my experiences there. Leaving the place was sad too and what I cherish the most is when students I knew back them (some of them older than me too!) still recognise me on the streets and tell me of how I might've made some difference in their lives in the short span of time I spent with them...
I remember a group of guys who always insisted on being together in their classes and who seemed to have no purpose in life...their age group ranging from 19-20 to 28! and when I questioned them about working and career etc etc they would laugh and crib about lack of jobs and blame the Govt., the system (?!) and then the attitude...papa hai na?! (I got dad funding me?!)...it would upset me like hell to see them so casual! All I told them was take a look at me...I am 21...ur age and even younger than some of u! I just got done with my post grad diploma and I am working...in fact most guys and girls your age are working in cities. You can choose to stay here and crib all your life and waste your dad's money on expensive computer courses or you can go out see the real world and make your money...that's your look out....you can't blame anyone or anything else for the choices you are making now!
I met one of them (he was a guy 4 years older than me) on one of my trips home and he was all smiles telling me how after I had left he joined the same computer center as my successor's assistant and then joined a new firm as their counselor :-) ... he told me he really thought about what I had to say and he knew I was right and nothing felt better than to earn for himself.
When I think of the above incident it gives me a sense of deep satisfaction and makes me smile...even now!
Well, many years have passed by since and in my trip back this time...I wonder if anyone would still recognize me :-) ... I am looking forwards to visiting my old colleagues and friends and all my relatives:-)...and visiting some of the places I loved going to when I was a kid...still time for it though...June is months away!
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