“My ten year old marriage has quite literally been a ‘moving experience’. We have moved to five different places already. Our marching orders to Reading, England came in April 2005.” Read on about the experiences of an expat in the UK.
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Author: Rema Kishore
My ten year old marriage has quite literally been a ‘moving experience’. We have moved to five different places already and my daughter very simply asks, “Mamma, which school will I be in next year?”.
Our marching orders to Reading, England came in April 2005. The first thing I remember doing was to ask other friends who’d lived there and returned. The feedback was thankfully encouraging. Useful tips on packing clothing, food and provisions made our first days of living abroad very convenient.
But I’d like to begin at the very beginning. We arrived at Heathrow where a friendly Sardarji immigration officer ushered us in. The liberal splattering of Asians, particularly Indians at the airport, was indeed reassuring. We chose to live in a smart, fitted apartment, in a predominantly English neighbourhood. Coming from Mumbai, we were pleasantly surprised to find few tall buildings and rows and rows of elegant houses in red brick. It was summer then, and I remember smiling to myself as I saw flowers, tall trees, lush green grass and crisp blue skies all the time. We of course, needed light woolens even then!
My daughter Vidisha was admitted to a school that was a pleasant eight minute walk away from home. I fondly remember the pavements lined with children and mothers pushing prams, making their way to school. Vidisha would quiz me often about babies with pacifiers in their mouths! We didn’t see those in India! The school was a lively place to be in and she settled quickly. I was also happy spending a few hours every week working with the teachers voluntarily. It was a curriculum that focused on a variety of subjects with NO prescribed textbooks. The thrust was on reading, writing and comprehension.
Socializing was restricted to a few other Indian families and a couple of other English friends. So we spent many weekends traveling around the beautiful countryside. We toured extensively and saw farms, gardens, zoos, museums, castles and places we had only read about in books as children. Vidisha was lucky to see them all first. Every experience of travel by train, London metro or town buses left us wishing for a similar experience back home.
Soon the weather was less pleasant. We saw little sunshine all day, and it was dusk by the time we got home from school at 3.30 in the afternoon! It was bizarre and depressing. No more playtime at the local park, and no cycle rides to friend’s houses. Carrying those shopping bags back home was an impossible task. My fingers seemed to freeze inside my gloves. And it would rain too! We beat the winter blues by snuggling up in front of the TV, and reading. The local library lent us ten books each, which got Vidisha into the reading habit right away.
December brought some welcome Christmas cheer. The malls and the town centre were all lit up and abuzz with frenetic shopping activity. People put up lights in their homes, which was a fond reminder of Diwali back home. Some windows also had tastefully laid out nativity scenes. There was occasional snowfall too. The green holly leaves and red berries were again, sights out of English novels. We would go the town centre and listen to live bands play carols and Christmas songs for charity. I can never forget the Salvation Army band playing ‘Silent Night’ at my request. We sat on one of the benches and listened for a long time. This is one memory I will cherish all my life.’
We had already spent a year in England. We had given ourselves a small sampling of almost every aspect of life there. I can go on and on, the experience was truly one of a kind. The school bid Vidisha and me a fond farewell. I was surprised to see such a genuine outpouring of love and affection from children and teachers alike. It was summer again, and I wished we could’ve stayed on for a few more months.
But guess what we did first on reaching Mumbai? We headed straight to our favorite ‘chaat’ corner on Juhu beach!
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Comments:
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
The article began smoothly, tugging at the right emotional strings with near-perfect timing. But just as the reader was becoming engrossed in the author’s style, the article halts to an abrupt stop. The ending could have been just as smooth as the beginning.
The article breif gives the impression that the author will be relating to several “moving” tales but the surprise is broken by simply relating the experience at England. Either the brief could have been tweeked or the article could have carried a few more experiences.
Otherwise, the article is pretty good stuff.