Skip to main content

In a land that calls a lucky guy “lucky fungi”

For about a year now things have been on and off!! But the take away has been a lot more than what can be packed into a years’ time!!

It began with getting married. The next one was coming to live in this country where hardly anyone spoke the language I did and neither could I speak theirs. So it’s easy to deduce that finding a job was a far cry. For a person fresh from having done her Masters, so eager to work (guess to my own regret later on..)  And finally make some money of her own, it was a big letdown.
It is in such confused times that one begins to think about dreams unfulfilled. So that’s how we hit upon the idea of learning German. Moreover that would be the logical step 1 to doing anything here. That was the start button. Once that was on, my life was full again. Meeting people from many different countries (like Slovenia, Slovakia don’t we leave them with our Geography lessons??) and learning their Culture brought a massive change to my outlook.  It does feel great to say I have French, Chinese, English, Russian, Slovenian friends!
Before, I was running through my life, panicking that I am getting nowhere with finding a job, always worried about being termed “she had it in her but didn’t make use of it”. But right now I realize that life is really not a marathon (I was far from being convinced. Not even when Chetan Bhagat explained why) and everyone has to find their own unique pace with which to live. And this has become my rationale.
Serendipity, an accidental discovery of something. Mine was that I’m good with languages. It helped me in more than one way. For one the meaning of many words in the languages that we already know becomes clearer. With all the traveling that we do, knowing the native language helps communicate better. Plus there is the high of being a small hero around friends and family ;-) The best so far has been that work came looking for me- Giving English lessons.
So am I a “lucky fungi”? (“Glück pilz“ in German)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Contemplation

It’s quite impossible to explain the impact some incidents in life have on you. Suddenly, the things that seemed the most important till today become insignificant and man begins to appreciate and reconsider his stand. So unaware a being has Providence made Man that he lives every day without having the slightest hunch of what might happen the very next minute. That makes him adept at complaining, fighting and hating another. Be it on a larger level- terrorism or at a more identifiable level- being jealous of a friend. We know how it is all going to end and baffling enough don’t know when. Then why do we put ourselves (me included) through all this drama of love, hate, sorrow, anger? Why is it that we crave for appreciation? Why is it that we want to have it all when we very well realize it’s not for keeps? Why is it that we always feel that we deserve more? Why is it that even when a friend or a relative is going through a bad patch it’s still ‘I’ that matters? Why is that the...
11 comments
Read more

Once Upon A Time when I was ashamed of myself

It happened a few months ago when I was attending a training session for the job I had newly got. There were 3 Americans, 1 English, 1 Austrian and of course 1 Indian (me) attending the session. The task was to write down the names of all the things that we could find in the room we were sitting in, in our mother tongue. Sounded easy enough at first, but led to extreme embarrassment when I could name just 17 and everyone else in the room came up with 70 in a minute’s time. I always took pride in the fact that my English was good. But what a slap in the face it was, when for the life in me, I couldn’t figure out what we called a table in Tamil! While recuperating from the serious damage caused by this incident I began thinking… Most people associate culture and history with India. It is incredible that we have so many different religions, traditions and values. And not to forget the multitude of languages. I have often heard that what scientists in the west discovered years l...
8 comments
Read more

So what do THEY think about it?

To hell with what they think!! I simply admire people who base their life on this principle. But easier said than done. Yes, I belong to the unfortunate other half who are not so brave. It’s a routine that sort of grows on you. An uncontrollable need to please people as Monica (of F.R.I.E.N.D.S fame) says. I have noticed how this chivalrous segment sails through life even in troubled waters without taking life too seriously. I understand that that is the secret- Don’t take life too seriously. It’s only when everything has to be perfect and you want to get noticed and appreciated, that things get ditzy.  After all, the world is not a perfect place. Being self-conscious and crunched up all the time is another common trait. That’s when everything wrong about you come into focus and the soldier that’s confidence takes a big blow.  When so much is going on, what me and my fellow miserables don’t realize is that the people who point fingers are in no way better than you are. If...
6 comments
Read more