A Full Bright Journey - New York Times

"I never really understood the meaning of Cultural Exchange and its purpose till I came here. But now, yes I understand ! Ever since I came here, I became less judgmental, more loving and empathetic, less frustrated, more disciplined (learnt from the sincere undergrads of Barnard). And what is a better place to learn life lessons than New York? It is incredible to find people of different ethnicity, cultures, races in just one place."

January 10th, 2018

09:00AM

Today is a sunny day in Jersey City, sipping my aromatic Cardamom Tea and seeing through the window of my bedroom and enjoying the warm weather. Warm? The temperature is 0 degrees celsius and I comfortably started calling it warm! It is funny how we become comfortable and adapt ourselves to the habitat we live in. Four months ago, I was new to this place, confused, lost, home sick and wanted to go back home very badly. I remember how I almost became homeless and how a stranger let me stay in her living room for a week and how I ended up with a nice home. I remember how I randomly messaged all the dancers in the New York on Facebook and how I ended up having great friends. (Jeeno didn't even bother to reply me initially :P ) I remember how I managed without a phone and internet for a week and how I scared New Yorkers by randomly talking to them for asking address. The most organised geography of New York still confused me and I got lost staggering left, right, North, South despite my google maps yelling at me, "You fool ! How can you be so dumb with routes!" :-D My first day of school was so exciting. While I enjoyed Ballet class, I was petrified by Modern dance as it is too clumsy for an Indian Classical Dancer. But I still loved it as my Modern Dance teacher was such an inspiration and her baby Evangelina is an angel (She is just 10 months old by the way). My nattuvangam to Sophia and Jeeno's bharatnatyam, My performance at Barnard College and Bridgewater Temple, Trip to Niagara falls (aka Heaven), my sweetest supervisor, my initial confusion with my topic, my New Year celebrations with my fellow Fulbrighters .. everything is so precious. I never really understood the meaning of Cultural Exchange and its purpose till I came here. But now, yes I understand ! Ever since I came here, I became less judgemental, more loving and empathetic, less frustrated, more disciplined (learnt from the sincere undergrads of Barnard). And what is a better place to learn life lessons than New York? It is incredible to find people of different ethnicities, cultures, races in just one place. Perhaps I will go back home and impart what I have learnt here. When I went to UN and learnt about the daily struggle of Afghan judges and lawyers with terrorists just to stay alive, I realized we and our problems are so small when compared to the people who are just struggling to live. When I saw a couple fighting at Times Square and reunite just within half an hour (Yes! I stalk people :D) , I realized how relationships are the same and beautiful everywhere in the world and how patience is the key to handle people. After all, human relationships are the most fragile connections. And when somebody helped me when I was in need, I realized you don't have to be great and intelligent to touch the lives of the people. You just have to be simple and spread the love. After all, love grows as you spread. I feel liberated when I write all these little things in life and I can proudly say, I don't need a holiday from my job. It is ever exciting. Yes it is adventurous and a bit frustrating at times. But I feel blessed to have this experience. I feel I am not exploring enough as the time is very short. Then I stopped taking pressure. I don't want to rush and I decided to take the things as they come. This journey is Full bright.. or let me put it this way.. I started seeing only the brighter side of everything. :-)

Some Precious Moments as a Timeline: