I come back to this blog for usually one out of the two reasons- if I'm in a phase in my life where I can't talk to anyone about what I'm going through or when someone reminds me about the joys of recording life's updates to look back on them one day. Its the latter this time. Nonetheless, a year and a half have gone by since I last updated this blog and I believe the change from then to now is as drastic as it always is.
I'm writing this, still from Sydney which means I can give myself some credit for not running away or quitting despite all those isolated months and second guessing this decision. But I haven't made it through just on my own. Because the things I have been childishly complaining about were all slowly taken care of as days progressed.
After spending those first 6 months of arriving in Sydney in that studio apartment completely alone and friendless, I decided to move into a flatshare and found a really nice one in Double Bay. It was with a girl called Hannah and the house belonged to her parents. I absolutely loved the house. It was situated in what was easily a 100 years old building, maintained in its original structure. But as you entered the house, you could almost smell the recent refurbishments. It opened into a beautiful living area and open kitchen with lightly varnished wooden floor and some really antique furnishings. My room was quite small, just enough to fit a single bed and some furniture but did I love living in it! It was a quiet corner room with big windows that opened to a very leafy outlook of the street. The light travelling through those leaves let just enough light into the room and it was peaceful to wake up in it every single day. Hannah, a Jewish local resident, grew up in the same locality with her parents house just a few minutes from us. She was a lovely flatmate to be honest. We were very different as people but I found her to be a deeply passionate person who took out time to do the things she liked and I learnt quite a bit in living with her. I learnt that it doesn't take a lot to be environment-friendly and considerate towards the community. Also, that its possible to leave the kitchen clean and spotless the same night as when you cook in it! While living in Double Bay, I met an old friend who moved to Sydney from Delhi, Pramita and the social aspect of my life changed very quickly after it. I now live with Pramita in a 2 bedroom apartment in St Leonards. This apartment is a dramatic upgrade from the last 2 places. Its situated on the 24th level of a high-rise building and we are the first occupants to move into it. And within weeks, it became very important how spacious and easy to live this apartment is and I will get to the reason in just a minute.
Rewinding back to 2019 and to the 26th year of my life, I can say it was nothing like the past 25 years. As obvious as it sounds, year 2019 is when I really grew up. It started with nothing. I came to Australia with as little savings as a person could possibly have because lets face it, the concept of having residual cash doesn't exist in my family nor with me. I won't forget how I spent weeks with just 100 dollars (actually maybe even less), counting every dollar that was going out for a meal. And that one day when I didn't even have a dollar. Months of sleeping in an empty apartment with just a mattress and only necessary kitchen and bathroom items. I know people make it with fewer things but that was the most stretched I had ever been in my life. And yet, I was okay. I booked another failed attempt at exams in the December of 2018 before I finally realised I couldn't go through CPA anymore. 2019 was the year when I got to spend the most time with myself. Thanks to social media, constant companionship in the city where you grow up and the Indian culture of always having at least 2 extra non-family members in your house, we never have to think of things to do just by ourselves. There's always a family gathering, a lunch, dinner or night stay with friends or just a movie night with your sibling. But living in Sydney with as many as 2 family members who live 2 hours away from you,1 friend-ish acquaintance and 2 colleagues you speak to at work, I got hours in a day where I found myself to be completely company-free. Amidst trying and failing to keep in touch with friends who still had physically present other friends to speak to and an extremely taxing long-distance relationship that eventually blew up, I was forced to either be my own best friend or die. The year included 2 India trips on Easter and Christmas, both of which were eventful and gave me the boost I needed to go on but only temporarily.
2020 is the year of ironies and this is where all my practice of being home and just by myself comes in handy. The little chatter around the start of the year of this rare newly-found virus that affected people in some parts of China was not the thing anyone thought about a lot in their day until it became a full blown pandemic in early March, forcing countries and economies to lock down within days. So 5 weeks into this global lockdown, I find myself extremely at peace when I see everyone around me living the life I had depended on for a year of desperately waiting on people to respond to them virtually and having no idea about what to do just by themselves. And this is where being in this house helps massively because its big enough to take an indoor walk with sun coming into the house as if we were at the beach. So yet again, I find myself marvelling at the perfection of God's timing for everything- where I am, with whom I am and what I have.
I hope to write from the other side of this Coronavirus lockdown in what seems to be the most unusual year of anyone alive so far.
I'm writing this, still from Sydney which means I can give myself some credit for not running away or quitting despite all those isolated months and second guessing this decision. But I haven't made it through just on my own. Because the things I have been childishly complaining about were all slowly taken care of as days progressed.
After spending those first 6 months of arriving in Sydney in that studio apartment completely alone and friendless, I decided to move into a flatshare and found a really nice one in Double Bay. It was with a girl called Hannah and the house belonged to her parents. I absolutely loved the house. It was situated in what was easily a 100 years old building, maintained in its original structure. But as you entered the house, you could almost smell the recent refurbishments. It opened into a beautiful living area and open kitchen with lightly varnished wooden floor and some really antique furnishings. My room was quite small, just enough to fit a single bed and some furniture but did I love living in it! It was a quiet corner room with big windows that opened to a very leafy outlook of the street. The light travelling through those leaves let just enough light into the room and it was peaceful to wake up in it every single day. Hannah, a Jewish local resident, grew up in the same locality with her parents house just a few minutes from us. She was a lovely flatmate to be honest. We were very different as people but I found her to be a deeply passionate person who took out time to do the things she liked and I learnt quite a bit in living with her. I learnt that it doesn't take a lot to be environment-friendly and considerate towards the community. Also, that its possible to leave the kitchen clean and spotless the same night as when you cook in it! While living in Double Bay, I met an old friend who moved to Sydney from Delhi, Pramita and the social aspect of my life changed very quickly after it. I now live with Pramita in a 2 bedroom apartment in St Leonards. This apartment is a dramatic upgrade from the last 2 places. Its situated on the 24th level of a high-rise building and we are the first occupants to move into it. And within weeks, it became very important how spacious and easy to live this apartment is and I will get to the reason in just a minute.
Rewinding back to 2019 and to the 26th year of my life, I can say it was nothing like the past 25 years. As obvious as it sounds, year 2019 is when I really grew up. It started with nothing. I came to Australia with as little savings as a person could possibly have because lets face it, the concept of having residual cash doesn't exist in my family nor with me. I won't forget how I spent weeks with just 100 dollars (actually maybe even less), counting every dollar that was going out for a meal. And that one day when I didn't even have a dollar. Months of sleeping in an empty apartment with just a mattress and only necessary kitchen and bathroom items. I know people make it with fewer things but that was the most stretched I had ever been in my life. And yet, I was okay. I booked another failed attempt at exams in the December of 2018 before I finally realised I couldn't go through CPA anymore. 2019 was the year when I got to spend the most time with myself. Thanks to social media, constant companionship in the city where you grow up and the Indian culture of always having at least 2 extra non-family members in your house, we never have to think of things to do just by ourselves. There's always a family gathering, a lunch, dinner or night stay with friends or just a movie night with your sibling. But living in Sydney with as many as 2 family members who live 2 hours away from you,1 friend-ish acquaintance and 2 colleagues you speak to at work, I got hours in a day where I found myself to be completely company-free. Amidst trying and failing to keep in touch with friends who still had physically present other friends to speak to and an extremely taxing long-distance relationship that eventually blew up, I was forced to either be my own best friend or die. The year included 2 India trips on Easter and Christmas, both of which were eventful and gave me the boost I needed to go on but only temporarily.
2020 is the year of ironies and this is where all my practice of being home and just by myself comes in handy. The little chatter around the start of the year of this rare newly-found virus that affected people in some parts of China was not the thing anyone thought about a lot in their day until it became a full blown pandemic in early March, forcing countries and economies to lock down within days. So 5 weeks into this global lockdown, I find myself extremely at peace when I see everyone around me living the life I had depended on for a year of desperately waiting on people to respond to them virtually and having no idea about what to do just by themselves. And this is where being in this house helps massively because its big enough to take an indoor walk with sun coming into the house as if we were at the beach. So yet again, I find myself marvelling at the perfection of God's timing for everything- where I am, with whom I am and what I have.
I hope to write from the other side of this Coronavirus lockdown in what seems to be the most unusual year of anyone alive so far.
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