A New Turn

There’s a saying: change is the only constant thing in life. Or something to that effect. And if we think about it, how true these words are, aren’t they? Your relationships, your circumstances, your emotions keep on changing. Sometimes these changes are good, and sometimes, undesired and unwanted.

My life took a huge turn in January 2015. I got a new job in a new city. A city so far away from my hometown that it scared my family. A city with such cultural difference that it left me struggling for few days.

And still I loved it! Totally, absolutely, madly loved it!!!

Let me start from the beginning, the circumstances that forced a typical Gujarati girl to move out of her comfort zone in Ahmedabad to Delhi, a city which scares every non-Delhi girl. The Indian capital city that can be easily called The Rape Capital of India.

As many of you might know, I’m a professional writer/editor. Apart from being a hobby, writing is my bread, butter and jam. Last November, my bread was threatened because the company for which I was working wanted strategic content head and not just content editor. I know sh*t (sorry for the swearing but just thinking about it puts me in a bad mood) about strategic content because it generally means marketing. Still, I tried but somehow “the powers that be” weren’t impressed. I was being pushed and prodded to do better. How? No idea because no one was there to train me. The company wasn’t willing to hire a trainer for me and it made me realize that it was time to get out of the comfort zone and look for another job.

Have I ever told you before how much I hate job hunting? No? Then let me tell you that if I can help it, I would behave like an old government employee who works at one place throughout his/her life. But I think that’s the luxury that God doesn’t want to give me.

Anyway, I started job hunting. Went to series of interviews. Some clicked and some didn’t. At the end of December 2014, three jobs clicked together and the best one was in Delhi. A city where I didn’t have a single relative. A city where I didn’t know a single soul, save some blogger friends whom I’ve met only online. But still, I opted for it and shifted. Alas, risks are part of life, aren't they?

And man, was it an eye-opening experience! New job, new colleagues, new culture, new place of living and new weather. Literally. For first couple of months, I couldn’t figure out what was I doing outside office.

Every day was a challenge in itself. I was living in a strange empty house. For first 15 days, I didn't have any furniture because I simply couldn't afford to buy after paying a small fortune in agent fees and a security deposit. My kitchen was empty and I couldn't cook. Then my things started coming from home: mattress, species, containers. Still, every day a new list of things to buy was made, a list of solutions was devised for new problems that I countered daily.

To top it off, extreme weather changes made me ill. Ill enough to qualify for hospitalization but due to kindness of my new landlords, I somehow evaded it.

But to tell you the truth, it was exhilarating. A kind of adventure that I would never have experienced had I let this opportunity go by.

It’s been two months in Delhi and I’m loving it. Yes, I have bouts of home sickness but then I realize the things that I get to learn daily. The things that I have never seen in my life before. The way of life that I never imagined before.