I live in a village.
No, not the conventional rural village one would expect in India or even an Amish one. I live in an AMERICAN one. For the longest time I considered myself very lucky that I got a chance to live in 3 countries with entirely different socio-cultural scenes. I grew up in India for a majority of my 'oh so long life' (please note the sarcasm), and then did my high school in Dubai, UAE and then my undergraduate studies in Toronto, Canada. I then took a year off from everything and went back to Dubai to spend time with family and maybe luck out and get a job in the worst year since the depression. Eventually I grew tired of my extended holiday and decided I wanted to start Graduate school. I revised my ambitions of pursuing an MBA to that of pursuing an immediate Masters Degree. My options were either going to the UK or going to the States. As luck would have it, I ended up going to the US, to Bentley College (university). I'm currently pursuing my degree in Marketing Analytics.
HM, you must be wondering what this has to do with me living in a village. Well it does!! My school is located in a suburb of Boston called Waltham. Its a quaint little place, America at its finest. Small strip malls, cute diners, friendly neighbors and the icing on the cake being that its a very homely sort off place.
Now, plug me and this scenario together, yes like addition, 1 + 1= 2. People who know me or have an idea of my background will immediately see how my lil' village and me just don't add up.
I have lived and been exposed to big cosmopolitan cities all my life. In Bombay(Mumbai), it was the sound of the fan running on the ceiling to the ever present sound of a rickshaw passing by. In Dubai, it was the sound of waking up to the sound of the Azan (prayers) every morning. In Toronto, it was the sound of police cars screeching away (courtesy living next to the city hall in downtown Toronto) to those of crazy kids in my dorm running through the hallway in the middle of the night (oh the joys of being freshmen and stupid). In Waltham, its NOTHING. There is no sound. I bought a humidifier recently, and its fan now adds sound to the soundtrack of my life.
I never pictured myself living in a town without a mall or the fact that it takes me 15 minutes of maneuvering through small town America traffic to get to a major highway. But here I am in my apparent not ever possible scenario and the judgement is, well its not all that bad.
This 'village' gave me the peace and quiet that I never realised I needed. It introduced me to people I never thought I would have the opportunity to meet, and introduced me to an accent that's harder to grasp at times than that of Brad Pitt's Mickey in the movie Snatch. I love my 'village'.
PS. Note to self, when your father determines that the place you're living at is not a village as you previously described it to him as, agree with him, instead of having that late realization a few months later. Dad's usually right about most things (usually). According to him, any town that has a restaurant open past 7 PM, is not a village. SO, what does that say about all of Switzerland then? =)
No, not the conventional rural village one would expect in India or even an Amish one. I live in an AMERICAN one. For the longest time I considered myself very lucky that I got a chance to live in 3 countries with entirely different socio-cultural scenes. I grew up in India for a majority of my 'oh so long life' (please note the sarcasm), and then did my high school in Dubai, UAE and then my undergraduate studies in Toronto, Canada. I then took a year off from everything and went back to Dubai to spend time with family and maybe luck out and get a job in the worst year since the depression. Eventually I grew tired of my extended holiday and decided I wanted to start Graduate school. I revised my ambitions of pursuing an MBA to that of pursuing an immediate Masters Degree. My options were either going to the UK or going to the States. As luck would have it, I ended up going to the US, to Bentley College (university). I'm currently pursuing my degree in Marketing Analytics.
HM, you must be wondering what this has to do with me living in a village. Well it does!! My school is located in a suburb of Boston called Waltham. Its a quaint little place, America at its finest. Small strip malls, cute diners, friendly neighbors and the icing on the cake being that its a very homely sort off place.
Now, plug me and this scenario together, yes like addition, 1 + 1= 2. People who know me or have an idea of my background will immediately see how my lil' village and me just don't add up.
I have lived and been exposed to big cosmopolitan cities all my life. In Bombay(Mumbai), it was the sound of the fan running on the ceiling to the ever present sound of a rickshaw passing by. In Dubai, it was the sound of waking up to the sound of the Azan (prayers) every morning. In Toronto, it was the sound of police cars screeching away (courtesy living next to the city hall in downtown Toronto) to those of crazy kids in my dorm running through the hallway in the middle of the night (oh the joys of being freshmen and stupid). In Waltham, its NOTHING. There is no sound. I bought a humidifier recently, and its fan now adds sound to the soundtrack of my life.
I never pictured myself living in a town without a mall or the fact that it takes me 15 minutes of maneuvering through small town America traffic to get to a major highway. But here I am in my apparent not ever possible scenario and the judgement is, well its not all that bad.
This 'village' gave me the peace and quiet that I never realised I needed. It introduced me to people I never thought I would have the opportunity to meet, and introduced me to an accent that's harder to grasp at times than that of Brad Pitt's Mickey in the movie Snatch. I love my 'village'.
PS. Note to self, when your father determines that the place you're living at is not a village as you previously described it to him as, agree with him, instead of having that late realization a few months later. Dad's usually right about most things (usually). According to him, any town that has a restaurant open past 7 PM, is not a village. SO, what does that say about all of Switzerland then? =)
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