What I miss the most

A lot of people have asked me what I will miss about Dallas. How I will get settled in India after such a long time. Honestly, I have also been pondering these questions for a long time myself.In fact for over two years. The family moved here 5 months back and they were all settled by the time I got here. There were not many complaints from them including DH who had to figure out how to get to work without a car and my 7 year old who got his first taste of the school system in India. So settling down here was not too bad.

I was worried about not being able to figure out how to run a household in India, never having had to do that in the past! That was taken care of by the time I got here. I just had to take over the reins. I guess I will have some hiccups but because the kids and DH have had a chance to adjust already, it is much easier.

I haven’t looked for a job yet. Don’t know if I want to either. For the first time I don’t have a plan for my career. I don’t know what I will end up doing. I was conditioned to always have a plan. I freak out when I don’t have a plan or at least a hint of a plan. I don’t have a plan but I have options and happily I am not worried about the lack of a plan.

I thought I would miss the freedom I had in the US the most. The ability to go grocery shopping in the middle of the night, not feeling threatened walking down the street by myself and being independent. I have seen that things in India have changed since the last time I lived here. We may not have a 24/7 stores in India but I have been out fairly late for Indian standards and not felt threatened in Bangalore so far. Now, I went to Delhi for 10 days and that was a different story but it’s like the difference between being in Dallas and being in New York. As for Independence, I think there is a different kind of independence here. Public transport is easily available, and with the advent of cell phones, your reliable corner auto or taxi is only a phone call away! Last week I ventured out to do groceries by myself and all I had to do was call the taxi driver on his cell adn he was here within 10 minutes. I went to the grocery store, got everything and was back in 2 hours. The best part is I didn't have to drive or lug the groceries back to the house myself :)

I thought I would miss my workout sessions but even before I could get here, I enrolled in power yoga classes, tried it this week and liked it. We also have a pretty good gym with a personal trainer at the place I live in so I can’t really complain. What I do miss are my companions and my coaches. I had a camaraderie with them that will take some time to build up here. I do miss being able to go out of my house and running on the local streets though. The traffic and the condition of roads here is not conducive to running. Maybe if we lived in a huge apartment complex with nice paved streets, I could go running on the street again, until then I will have to find a different way to get my cardio.

I really miss my dance classes. I started learning dance within a year of moving to Dallas. Never thought I would start learning at that stage in life but a dear friend was learning and I loved to dance so I started taking classes as an experiement and almost 13 years later was still going to class until two months before I left. My teacher is an amazing woman who could handle teaching adults like me who had never learnt to dance their entire life but were enthusiastic about it even after life caught up with them J. I have started my quest for a new dance teacher in Bangalore but I cannot get my head around learning from anybody other than Padma.

The kids miss their activities as well. I haven't found a little gym where I can enroll the kids. I need to find swim lessons, vocal lessons and some sport that they can enjoy outside of school. I am sure I will be able to find it but I am worried about how to get them there and back without having to hire a driver. I think I better get used to the idea of driving on the streets of India soon!

What I do miss most is my friends, my support structure. The people who were an integral part of my life. Some of whom I have known since the first day I landed in Dallas, others who I had met along the way. The ones who were so close to me they were practically family. I might as well have been married to them! Anybody who has lived in the US for an extended period of time knows that we build a web of friends around us who become our family there. They are the ones who were but a phone call away any time of the day or night, the ones I shared my successes and failures with. Who were as happy as I was when I bought my house, had my babies or got a new job. They are the ones who would babysit my kids, tag team for drop off and pick up duties for kids’ activities, come to midnight shopping sessions with me, kept me motivated to continue my dance, music and workouts through all the craziness of being a working mother of two monsters.

The ones I would call in the middle of the night to rant about the insane people I had to deal with while trying to sell my house, the ones who would hear me cry on the phone and come over so I could vent some more. The ones who would show up at my door with food because they knew I was alone and sick and too tired to cook. The ones who stayed with me through all the craziness of trying to wind up things in Dallas by myself, the ones who gave me all the support I needed to manage that madness. They are the ones who formed my support structure in a foreign land. The ones who cried when I left.

That is what I miss the most. I am sure I will make new friends but there are some people who are irreplaceable and I left some of them back in Dallas. They are the ones I miss the most!

I do miss some of the creature comforts that I was used to in Dallas as well and I will blog more about that later but this is about what I miss the most :)