In the 80's a girl from a conservative Punjabi family brought up in Wales but college educated in India married an unassuming, reserved yet tenacious army officer. Three years later, they had their first daughter. The father being naturally inclined to indulgence and being the first grandchild on the maternal side, she grew up completey spoilt, as did her younger sister. They were brought up across many cities and towns in India, and quite a number in Europe as well (although she doesnt remember cause she was under 24 months of age but photos stand testament).
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She grew up to be a bit different from parental expectations. Apart from a tumultuous two years of high school, she was also far more outspoken and non-academically inclined than her parents deemed suitable. All the same, they were proud of the strong family ties that held them together through thick and thin, a legacy that would hold the 4 strong in the years to come.
She mistakenly stumbled into engineering and even succesfully tumbled out of it with a degree. In doing so, she also met her best friend and life partner (two different people). Above all, she learnt what she was about, learnt that she wasn't as strong as she thougth she was, learnt that she was a little more feminine than she gave herself credit for and learnt to survive and be happy, no matter what or who was or wasn't around her. Learnt to slowly carve her dreams out and learnt to accept that certain things can only be healed with time. She learnt, the hard way, that you can't rush growing up.
Now, she is in Melbourne Australia, where her Mom and sister are with her trying to make a new life, hopefully a better one than they left behind. Even though she grew up criticizing the treatment of women and a million other things in India, she knew she belonged there. How, one cannot say. Maybe it was as the waters of a Goan beach washed between the toes of her sandy feet. Or as she chatted up a new mother from south india in the berth of the cramped 3-Tier Indian Railway Train. Or the fantastic joy she took in the sheer contrast of the country, and how it united in its celebration at 11pm when its cricket team won the world cup. Her patriotism was not nationalistic; she simply did not believe in blind love of any kind. She was never religious, thanks to the atheist and spiritual attitudes of her parents. But there was something about her country she loved. And would continue to love.
Now, that girl sits at a computer screen in a suburb of the Victorian capital, as the rain pours outside the venitian blinds of the living room, she can hear the TV blaring the story of the flsh flood in the city. She remembers flash floods back home. She remembers the smell of rain as she sat exasperated in the library making notes about some unintelligible telcommunications protocol. She remembers a lot of things,. And she smiles. She knows she'll be back. she knows that some friends will wait for her. And that some won't. Its alright. Some things are better enjoyed when you wait for them. Some people are worth the wait.
Welcome to my life.