Don’t expect that I am going to tell you something that will surprise you, by looking at the title. These are some incidents which “I” found to be strange and you may not feel the same after reading this post. Strange encounters are part of everyone’s life, some of these encounters may be worth remembering and some may not. As these incidents happened when I was in US, I remember every one of them vividly. Let me tell them in chronological order
October 2008: It was the time when I was working in a restaurant. There was a chef “Singh Ji” that is what every one of us calls him as. One day I came to know that he came to us in 1984 for the first time leaving his family back in India. Ooook !! So What ?? Here is the strangest part, he never went back to India to see his family. I am not sure what would someone can achieve by staying away from his loved ones for 24 years.
“I wonder if anyone in the world does that “
June 2009: This happened in a Grocery store, again a place where I was working at that time. There was one old man working with me. One day he asked me if I have a visa. “What’s there to ask it’s blatant, right?” this is what I thought. I answered Yes without revealing what’s going on in my mind. Then he said “tu toh acha naseeb wale ho” which means “you are lucky”. It explains that he has no visa at that time. I have seen many people struggling to survive in the USA thinking that they are not lucky enough to get money from home. Here is a man who is feeling unlucky as he has no visa. We are not happy about getting visa instead we are feeling frustrated as we are not lucky enough. On that day I realized that there are many people in the world who are struggling to earn what you have in your hand. We are not able to realize the value of things we are blessed with.
So be happy for what you have!!
Don’t worry about what you don’t possess!!
Try for the best with a smile on your face!!
August 2009: That was my first day at Clemson(University Place 331), I hardly know anything about my roommates by that time. On that day we were walking in the parking lot around the apartment complex. Then one of my roommates, Suresh, told me that “if you have any problem with finances don’t hesitate to ask me”. On the next day, I had to pay my college fees and it will take another 3 days to receive money from my parents. Then my other roommate, Kirthi Kiran, told me that he has $5000 in his account and I can borrow it if it is urgent. I was surprised for those gestures because they are offering these to a person who they met just 2 days ago. I am not sure if I do the same if I am in their shoes.
These are just a sample of lessons I learned in the USA. They are many more which will take eons to explain. But I will try to post them at some point in time.
