The Vagabond

18 November 2014 : That was the day i left the soils of India and came to Dubai. As with everyone, I had mixed feelings. Happy, coz I would be going abroad to a new life that awaited me. Sad, coz i would miss my parents…they would be so far away. Miss the warmth of my home.

I was anxious about the kind of people i would meet, would i be able to adjust. Will it turn out to be a wise decision? After all, we were moving from settled to a kind of unsettled life.

This november, I will complete two years in Dubai. One of the most negative points of living in a country with different culture is the missing all the festivities. None of the festivals give you the same feel which was back home.

Diwali lacks the lights, Holi lacks the colours and at festivals like RakshaBandhan you miss your family.

Neither of the day is a public holiday, so just like any other day you get up and go to work.

Not that I am a big fan of Crackers and fire workers, but at Diwali the whole sky would be lit up with various colours. All what we do here is go to temple, bring a few sweets which unfortunately are poor scanned copies that lack our taste of punjab, do a lakshmi pujan and go to sleep.

Holi is usually a big splash back home. The beautiful colours all mingling with water, the sweet taste of gujiyas, holika dahan all make life more refreshing.  All what we have here is just the what’s app messages and phone calls.

One of my favourite festivals in India was Lohri. The bonfire and the offerings to Fire god would drive all the cold away. How i miss that here.

Today it is Raksha Bandhan. Neither could i go to my brother’s house and tie rakhi on his wrist. Nor i have a daughter who could tie my son. Possibly that is making me miss all of them.

Another down about living is an expat is that your schedules never match back home. The vacations here start after the schools there are open, so you can never plan a family get together.

One more thing which i miss is decorating my home. In India, if you would buy something it would be for keeps. Here you look something just to pass time, as you don’t know how many years you will be here.

What i like about being an expat is you get to know new cultures, learn new things from them, visit new places, live in a secure environment and of course quality of life is much better. Here, i don’t have to bother that water will not come, or at night electricity won’t be there. Nor have any nightmares about the school transport.

Everything has its ups and downs..possibly this is life..so enjoy what u get. So I’ll keep enjoying what life has chosen for me.