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  • Tina Nandi

Travel Journal: USA (Part 1)

I’ve always wanted to visit the US. Thanks to my exposure to Hollywood and American Television and well, a lot of cool stuff that happens over here that we can’t help but hear about. I never thought the first time I’d come here would be with my American husband (Who, is more Indian than I am in some ways, btw) but here I am.

We are staying with Rob’s parent’s who live in a little village called Sangaree in South Carolina. All the houses have a front yard and a back yard and the grass is gorgeous green and the trees are full of leaves. Even though the weather is exactly the same as Bombay, it doesn’t feel as icky. Then again, it’s only been one day and perhaps the novelty of everything else is drowning out my aversion to the heat.

It’s the simple things that I am loving the most. The clear blue skies. The feel of fresh grass under my bare feet. The hot summer storms. Playing with the cats. Both of us on vacation mode – not stressed out with work and drained by Bombay Living.  And of course most of all, time with Rob’s family.

So it’s wonderful. America is wonderful but it’s not flawless.

I struggle with living in Bombay. I’m NOT a big-bustling-loud-filthy-crowded-live-in-tiny-apartments city person. I would much rather live in a smaller town in a little house with a back yard and a front yard where our future children can safely run around and play with our dog and two cats. And sometimes I am inclined to think that simply moving to a place where that would be possible would make everything perfect.

Truth is that there are things that life has opened my eyes to that I cannot ever ignore again no matter which part of the world I am in. Problems that we, human beings of all colours and races, have created ALL OVER THE WORLD. Some places are just better at hiding those issues or painting over them.

The point I want to make (to myself more than to anyone else) is that the world is broken. Everywhere.

But there is also beauty to be found everywhere. In summer-time. In relationships. In creativity. In strawberries. In rain. In quietness. In new experiences.

And the more time I spend trying to devise plans of how to escape the brokenness in our current living situation, the more beauty I will miss…

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