~ Reflections ~

We might have millions of people around.. .  Well-wishers who want the best for you..  But finally, our decisions are something  we have to deal with on our own.  Does it mean that we are lonely? Maybe.  But even if you were cushioned in a life full of loving people, these are the battles you have to fight all alone. 

A lot of people seem to confuse being alone with being lonely.  I beg to differ..... I have often been lonely in a crowd too ! Photo Credits: https://www.jackdogwelch.com/?p=13856

In the Corporate world, I have learnt the hard way that the more you are conscious about your/your team's gender, the more people try and take you for a ride. There is no limit to all the nonsense... You try to be careful, and you are told you are distant... You avoid social gatherings, only to be reprimanded that you are anti social... I am often left wondering if the people would give the same responses if the person on the other side was a male. Conveniently, since a majority of most workplaces are filled with men and sprinkled with women, even a random poll would have unfavourable results. So I have finally concluded that I don't care.. Don't care about what others think.. or what they 'expect' from the girl next door, or rather at the next desk....  Of course I am not worried about intimidating men.  The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in.    ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 

I ran through life, not bothering about people who'd have joined me... Now, as I barely manage to walk, I am all alone...

Read this somewhere... It struck a chord somewhere... As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in Software Engineering and joined a company based in USA, the land of braves and opportunity. When I arrived in the USA, it was as if a dream had come true. Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I would be staying in this country for about Five years in which time I would have earned enough money to settle down in India. My father was a government employee and after his retirement, the only asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat. I wanted to do some thing more than him. I started feeling homesick and lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and speak to my parents every week using cheap international phone cards. Two years passed, two years of Burgers at McDonald's and pizzas and discos and 2 years watching the foreign exchange  rate getting happy whenever the Rupee value went dow...