NEIGHBORS !!!
There are a lot of things one misses while living in the United States; family, friends, food, language, home, etc. But one thing that I distinctly miss not having around is…my neighbors. Your family can visit you, you can make new friends, you get Indian food almost anywhere now, and if u r lucky you may even bump into a few Marathi speaking people. But neighbors….you can’t make new ones…because here the concept of Neighbors doesn’t exist & it’s too bad you don’t get them in any Indian store : (.
It’s funny and at the same time annoying that I am clueless as to who my neighbors are, here in the US. All I know is that they exist. How I know that? Well…there’s this neighbor who lives a flat above us, and walks with such heavy footsteps that we hear his/her creaking all the time. Then, there’s this neighbor who lives exactly opposite to us and has this extremely lethargic & annoying black cat that sits and sits and sits at the window, prying on us all day long. Apart from this, I don’t know who they are, what they do, how they are, I know nothing. Occasionally I bump into someone in the colony and all we do is ..just smile. It’s so uncool.
My mom & I would go for evening walks, back in India and if we would bump into some neighbor, we would chat and laugh and even gossip. Here, there’s no Jayu kaku, taking care of my lunch & dinner when mom wasn’t around. Here, there’s no Sandhya kaku, who is so bold and dashing, that just knowing that she was at home, would make me feel secure when I would be alone at nights. Here, there’s no Hardikar kaku, whose loving & thoughtful ways have made her so special to us. Here, there’s no smiling Swaroopa kaku, who I feel is the only Dentist I can safely go to, without wobbly knees. All these ladies and their families, were not just neighbors to us..they were like an extended family…people who we knew would always rush to us in our need, people who we could trust, people with whom we could and we have, shared our ups and downs.
Why can’t these Americans understand the importance of Neighbors? Why are they so embarrassed to establish relations with their neighbors? It’s sad because they are missing out on so much. Ofcourse, there are people who are cursed to have bad neighbors. But I was blessed to be amongst the few privileged ones.
It’s funny and at the same time annoying that I am clueless as to who my neighbors are, here in the US. All I know is that they exist. How I know that? Well…there’s this neighbor who lives a flat above us, and walks with such heavy footsteps that we hear his/her creaking all the time. Then, there’s this neighbor who lives exactly opposite to us and has this extremely lethargic & annoying black cat that sits and sits and sits at the window, prying on us all day long. Apart from this, I don’t know who they are, what they do, how they are, I know nothing. Occasionally I bump into someone in the colony and all we do is ..just smile. It’s so uncool.
My mom & I would go for evening walks, back in India and if we would bump into some neighbor, we would chat and laugh and even gossip. Here, there’s no Jayu kaku, taking care of my lunch & dinner when mom wasn’t around. Here, there’s no Sandhya kaku, who is so bold and dashing, that just knowing that she was at home, would make me feel secure when I would be alone at nights. Here, there’s no Hardikar kaku, whose loving & thoughtful ways have made her so special to us. Here, there’s no smiling Swaroopa kaku, who I feel is the only Dentist I can safely go to, without wobbly knees. All these ladies and their families, were not just neighbors to us..they were like an extended family…people who we knew would always rush to us in our need, people who we could trust, people with whom we could and we have, shared our ups and downs.
Why can’t these Americans understand the importance of Neighbors? Why are they so embarrassed to establish relations with their neighbors? It’s sad because they are missing out on so much. Ofcourse, there are people who are cursed to have bad neighbors. But I was blessed to be amongst the few privileged ones.
posted by Avanti at 12:07 PM
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