Common Bonds,,,,,,,

I just noticed that a friend of mine, whose blog I follow, has been ultra busy over the past few hours, and once I am done with this, am going to settle down to some great reading.

I am a 3rd generation Assamese, and no matter where I go, Assam, her people and her language are never far from my mind. Hyderabad is a pretty long way removed from Assam, and does not feature on its usual migratory picture, people rather prefer Delhi or for that matter even Kolkata or Bangalore (please do not expect me to call it by its new name, lesser said of it the better) with regards to jobs or Education. So imagine my surprise, during my first days here, when I heard the Security personnel at our Hospital discuss the new Doctor, me, in typical Assamese, full of its inherent jargon, and you should have seen them react to my answers, a nice mix of Incredulity, Joy and Disbelief, followed by a little shame at being caught out. A piece of homeland, here!!

I am turning into a regular Agony aunt (!) for them, and find myself addressing odd problems at times, from an erring Fiancee' to a good-for-nothing brother at home who wants a Bike, the problems are varied, and their solutions have to be wel thought out and practical. Tough call.

I am even subjected to conspiratorial winks when they see me overhear discussions of a particular nurses' plus points (trying to put it politely here, I guess you know what I mean). The whole lot of them are young, away from home and in a land where they have to stick together, because of the bond they share.

Wherever I went, wherever I saw security, my ears perked on their own, and I was seldom disappointed. I am so much at home here. I am sure to hear at least a couple of swear words every day,especially a particular one starting with 'K', that translates into a certain wholesome fruit, in Hindi. There are brothers who are trying to get their younger siblings to follow them here, friends arguing over the merits of a job here versus a job back home, fellows bemoaning the increasing demands for money from back home,,,,,many such conversations float into my ears every day, private conversations, I know, but the speakers would not begrudge me overhearing them, because I was one of them, sharing a common unifying bond, that of a same land, a same language, a same longing, to return,,,,return Home.

PS. I am still awaiting the Tata-Sky people who were supposed to install my new DTH, yesterday, so that I could watch Sourav play his last Test,,guess my wait is going to last longer,,Laahe-Laahe anyone?