So, where am I?

24 months back, a family of four moved to Singapore. For a two year period. To give the kids some exposure. For a change. To see how different the cheese is. Ofcourse the husband's job required the move. The rest were just excuses to reinforce the decision.

Even though I've moved cities a lot during my childhood and after marriage, setting up a new home away from India was difficult. It was a new country. Besides, I never realised when i had let those roots grow deep enough to keep me connected to Delhi. It was tough to pack things up, and say goodbye!

But move we did and did a pretty good job of it too! We each found our bits of cheese in places we least expected. I found mine in blogging, something i was not aware of before. And just when we were beginning to sit back, it was time to move again. Oh my has it been 2 years already?

In addition to handling the pang I feel at the thought of moving away from the familiar, people seem to excel in telling me what to expect in the new place. When we moved to Calcutta, people painted a very gloomy picture of the place. It happened to be one of the best places i've lived in. Warm, inviting and addictive! So was our move to Bhopal. Contrary to popular perceptions, it is a lovely laid back city with a close knit community.

and now,

"Doooobai" drawled people in horror. and then went on to praise Singapore. "Look at the transport, the safety, the comfort, the weather; Singapore is the best, it is the best! "

Our house owner looked suitably mortified, and he said "you are going to dooobai. your wife will wear a booorkha?" sigh...

I went to see a 'few months' new son of a neighbor and she was a tough nut to crack. Everytime i said something about the baby, she would brush it aside and inform me about some new horror about dubai. By the time she had finished comparing the transport, the order, the comfort and started on the libraries, (and she has never visited dubai till date) I had reached the end of what ever little patience i never knew i had. I resorted to my diversionary tactic and turned to her baby and gushed "Oh my what an active little boy"

A master move, if it wasn't for that little fact that the darling had wisely fallen asleep a while back.

Sometimes i'm too smart for my own good.

Singapore, to us, was a wonderful two year vacation and we loved every day of it. People want to know how we do it. The moving around, i mean. I guess when you move as much as we do, it helps to avoid comparing. I would never be able to let go, if i did that. It is best to go to the new place with an open mind and most times you are pleasantly surprised.

Every move too has one panic stricken moment when i fast forward and rewind my whole life, and all i see are cartons and suitcases and packaging tape.

So here I am in Dubai. Comfortably settled in a serviced residence while we hunt around for a place to live in. There is a lot to get done.

and the mind overwhelmed with trying to get all the coordinates to meet somewhere, i turn on my laptop, quite eager to enter a world which has remained the same: familiar, inviting and a mood uplifter. and it is almost like i've never moved!

keep those comments coming, folks, they keep me sane.