Relocation

I am used to having people around me who complain, who are dissatisfied, regretting decisions and wanting change. Not many, but enough. If I used to come across as one of those kinds, I am not anymore!

After an eternity of wait, I do have a job in the domain that I want. A first step of sorts in the journey that I wanted to start on since long, even if a bit late. So, I’m quite happy if you haven’t noticed it yet. The job involves relocation to Pune from Hyderabad without much in terms of compensation for the same. The overall income did not change significantly either, considering everything. Which I am fine with. I was willing to agree to a lot lesser or worse. I just needed this job badly. But my employers being the professionals they are didn’t even try to short hand me. The offer was fair and accepted without much resistance on my part. I rarely find myself complimenting organizations but I must this time. This organization is really good. It is as good as it claims to be in its websites and policies. People here are actually worth taking the time out to find out more about. Many people here are above or equal to me in terms of intelligence and experience. It usually is not the case where I come from. I don’t need to inspire and look around for company here but live up to the standards already set. Motivations are right in front of me just in case I needed any. I am looking forward to growing. That is not usually my experience.

My family had trouble understanding the job change at the beginning. I mean I could have had a job with a great hike in pay if I didn’t shift the domain. Even at the same place with even better conditions. But you can’t have it all. You always make a choice. And I made mine long back, so I simply followed up. Then again, my family consists of my brother –who has gone through hell just to try his hand at what he believed (And returned with fire on his back), and my parents who know enough about me to trust me blindly. Therefore, there was not friction as much as sadness about my departure. Mainly because I never left home for long periods before. But even that was not for long because there was a circus called marriage in our house for two whole months until the day before I left. My brothers marriage was nothing short of hell for the family, except of course my brother. His troubles start where ours end.

I am at a new place with new faces and new work. That is another part of my excitement. I get to be alone and adapt to new environment. I get to concentrate on my new job. Work on my passions and goals rather than spend time the usual ways. I anticipate productive change. Pune is a good city, but the office is in the outskirts and I decided not to travel from the city but to take a PG right beside the office, in the same outskirts. Saves the logistics head-ache and gives me some walking distance to cover, which I like. Also the mental peace of knowing there is nothing else outside the room – nothing that would tempt me, pull me. Pune is a good city, but any other city would have made no difference to me (but I am lucky to get Pune, weather wise)

I tend to get a bit proud of myself concerning my adaptability. I know people who never travelled and those who travelled a lot. The people who travel a lot still do not necessarily enjoy it. They simply are used to adjusting. They are not really at home, away from home. People have trouble getting used to places, people, food, what not. Not me.

I am proud because that stuff does not bother me. I don’t need people to talk to. I can stay silent for hours on, even days without feeling disconnected, as long as I have a book to read or stuff to do. I am not prone to getting bored. Not at all, not in the near future. I am quite happy with a laptop or a book. An internet connection helps. And I don’t have a preferred food. I eat rice as well as chapatis as well as burgers and enjoy them too. I do not mean occasionally, as a staple food. The canteen of the PG I stay in serves tasteless food. The quality is all right but it is a torture of the taste buds. I didn’t even notice the first few days. I get so hungry by the time I come back from office that I am practically an animal while eating. Only when I had time and patience to notice did it strike me that there was no curd, that the curry was lame and the palak dal was really green sambar. Yet, a small pickle bottle solved all the problems in that regard.

I am self-sufficient if I am allowed to say so. In the sense that I am not emotionally dependant on particular places or foods - or to some extent people.

I do connect with people but I don’t feel the need to keep them in my presence or ‘touch’. A call a day to family is good enough. And a call a month if a close friend. Or two months. I am like that, nothing abnormal.

These days, I am enjoying having all time to my selfish self.  Really, it’s hard to describe the peace that I am going through. Mainly the peace of knowing that I don’t need any more changes for some time. That the uncertainty part is, at long last, over. The change I wanted is already here. Ah, and how much I wanted change! Now I just have to push and make the most. It is like looking down a road with its map in my hand. However hard the terrain may be, I know that the direction is right and all the bumps you endure will be worth the while. Even better, it will not be a road not taken.