The reason of the visit was Diwali celebrations. It was fun to celebrate Diwali away from home, surrounded by lovely coworkers, sharing food, stories, and culture.
When I visited Monika’s for the first time, I didn’t know this would turn out to be a beginning of something life lasting. It feels good to look at this day after so many years.
This was the first day I met Monika & her family. It was lovely feeling to be a part of the family gathering 8,000 miles away from home. I felt at ease and enjoyed myself.
The evening started with a round of introductions. I was glad that everyone was from Ford, so I had already met them before at work. Apart from the introductions, I was pleasantly surprised to look at all the wonderful dishes that everyone brought to share. I felt bad that I didn’t bring anything but being a bachelor was relieved to know that it was not a mandatory thing to bring with you.
To overcome the not-so-good feeling of not bringing any food items to share with anyone, I volunteered to roll the chapatis, while boasting that I could roll them in a perfect circle shape. Monika and everyone readily agreed and asked me to take over.
Surprisingly, the chapatis turned out really good. I must admit that I was nervous. This was the first time I was hanging out with my teammates outside work in a more intimate setting and I didn’t want it to be the case of future discussion where they would make fun of me for not rolling the chapatis in a perfect circle. I was jubilant that the time spent cooking in Hartford came handy here and I could deliver the thing that I boasted about in the begining.
The evening was going on well and we were enjoying the food, the lovely wine, and some other alcoholic drinks. I had an awesome time, meeting everyone outside work and getting to know their individual spouses. It was such a lovely evening!
I am a sucker for memoirs and when I started reading this one, I immediately knew it would turn out to be a memorable read. I am glad that I wasn’t wrong.
I get a different feeling when I read a memoir. I feel like the author or the person in the memoir is sitting beside me and just talking through the book. This is an important reason why I devoured this memoir in a week. It was definitely one of the top 5 memoirs for me and is highly recommended if you are a fan of memoir, like me!
Let’s get started with the highlights from this book.
Innovate or Die This is the biggest takeaway from this book. When I read this title of one of the chapters in this book, it seemed so obvious to me. I thought, what an easy and obvious thing to say. It was until I went through the entire chapter I realized it is not only to put the fancy title to the chapter but actually implement it.
Throughout the chapter (& book), the author, Bob Iger, has mentioned how innovation helped him and his companies thrive during the difficult times and come out stronger than ever. Bob Iger explained in details the various decisions he took with his trusted team of advisors to steer Disney in innovative ways and sustain during the difficult times and overcome the competitions.
What I found more interesting and important was that his elegance, straightforwardness, and keeping other’s feelings in mind while taking these decisions. One sentence that struck me the most was “Be kind to others. You never know what personal tragedy that others might be going through.” This sentence is true in so many ways, especially during these COVID-19 outbreak times.
For me, personally, this has been a eye opening message. If you want to survive in these challenging times, the only way to do it is by innovating!
Humble Beginnings The book starts off with a shooting incident at a bar near the Florida Disneworld. I must say from the first page/sentence itself, the author grabs your attention and you sort of get glued to the pages of the book.
After this initial engaging story, you just wait and wait until the author revisits it during the later part of the book. While doing that, the author carefully introduces his humble beginnings as a small kid, his first job, and later transition to the corporate life. It was an important and clever decision to squeeze in details regarding his personal life during these chapters because the reader, in anticipation of returning to the incident mentioned in the first chapter, reads quite intently and never seem to take their eyes off the content.
During the initial life, I loved how author explained influence of his father on his lifestyle. I loved how the author openly mentioned that his father might be suffering from depression when the author was growing up. What I loved more about the author was that when he became the CEO of Disney, he took his father out for lunch and told him that he was a successful father and he did everything that he could to raise the author and his sibling.
It was a touching moment for me and I imagined myself taking my Dad out for lunch and talking to him, sometime in the future.
Apart from his personal life, I liked how humble his beginnings were as far as his professional career was concerned. Though he didn’t have any authority, he made sure to do his job and duties with utmost focus and importance to deliver the high quality content to the consumers and producers.
I distinctly remember an incident when he was in the recording studio or some big room, with almost 30 people working on a show and there was a talk about some screw up during one of the shows. Without hesitation, while being asked whose mistake was it, the author quickly got up from his seat and told everyone that it was his mistake and assured that he would be careful next time onwards. Everyone moved their necks towards him and some people later told him that that was a bad move. It might seemed a bad move for everyone, but the key people in the room noticed the author and later on started giving him more opportunities and responsibilities. One thing that I learnt from this incident was that it is very important to innovate, do the right thing, and think outside the box; But, while doing that, if you screw up, you should be ready to own the mistake and move forward with the learnings.
It was an important lesson for me.
It is about the future, not the past What can I say about this?
When the author was preparing for his interview for the position of Disney CEO, he had one goal in mind – to convince the board of directors how important his vision is for the betterment of the company and its people. The one theme that he focused throughout the interview process was that “IT IS ABOUT THE FUTURE, NOT THE PAST“. It seemed like a really simple idea, but it paid a lot not only enabling him to become the next CEO of Disney, but also steering Disney in the correct direction of the innovation.
Based on his experience throughout the hiring process (which lasted for more than 5 months), he knew how important it would be to deliver on the promises that he made to the Disney board during the interview process. The author kept one thing in mind – always focus on the future, but not by overlooking what we have right now. This has paid big throughout his journey at Disney. You can talk about Acquisitions, Expansions, and Innovative Solutions such as Disney+ to back this strategy. The author always focused on what’s next, not loosing the site of what they had in hand right now.
It is an important business strategy.
Acquisitions The author was part of the first acquisition when CapCities/ABC was acquired by Disney. This experience helped him to realize what it feels when you are acquired by a bigger company. The biggest learning from this acquisition for the author was that “we are acquiring the company for the people” & has mentioned many times throughout the book “It doesn’t make sense to change you into something else from what you are, because that’s the reason we acquired you“.
Again, it is a common theme throughout the book. The idea/sentence is simple, but the execution of it was much more difficult. The author remembered his time and feelings when CapCities/ABC was acquired and made sure to sympathize with people of the companies that was being acquired by Disney when the author was Disney’s CEO. Throughout the chapters when the author talked about acquiring other companies, he made sure to explain his side of the deal. He mentioned how important it was for him to talk directly and face-to-face to the person in charge, who will help him with the acquisition.
The author also mentioned the tumultuous times Disney went through when they were acquiring Fox Networks. This was a crucial time for Disney to steer in the new direction and come out stronger after the acquisition. However, there were many hurdles and the way the author handled the situation with ease and keeping empathy in mind, helped them close the acquisition of Fox, even though Comcast were offering more money than Disney’s initial offer.
Diversity & Inclusion Having climbed the corporate ladder successfully and proving to everyone and himself that he is the man who can make Disney from a successful company to a great company, but the author mentioned the most important thing that he had done in his career was supporting the launch of Marvel’s Black Panther.
Being an ardent Marvel fan, Disney has been close to my heart, but when the author mentioned and actually showed the email that he wrote to the Disney Employees after the release of Black Panther, he was so proud of the team and everyone who supported the launch. I loved how he started the email saying “Wakhanda Forever!”.
It goes on to show that a great leader not only works for showing profit, earning more revenue, and making the boardmembers happy, the great leader also strives to maintain the diversity and inclusion, especially in a big company. When I was reading this chapter, I couldn’t help but remember our Ford CEO Jim Farley. Ever since he became a CEO, Jim has paid more attention to the Diversity & Inclusion initiative at Ford and I really liked and appreciated his effort for doing so. It goes on to show how important this topic is for him and the entire Ford family.
Disney+ This is the last and probably the most important product that the author worked on in his career. When they were working on launching a streaming platform, they had so many choices to make – whether to go with Disney’s own platform or acquire other companies who are already making headways in this direction and then build on top of it. I never knew there were so many things a company and CEO has to look for before taking a decision.
As you are reading now, and after listening to Disney’s latest earnings call, it is evident that Disney+ went from becoming the newest member in the Disney family to the *only* important product during the COVID-19 pandemic. The launch of Disney+ was so revolutionary for Disney as a company that this single product helped them thrive through the pandemic and if you go by the latest numbers, you will realize that they amassed more than 75M subscriptions for their services. It was truly a masterstroke, something that helped Disney survive the closing of their parks and release of some of their iconic movies.
In conclusion, I would like to say, Disney CEO Bob Iger, lived his CEO tenure keeping the following things in mind – Innovation is the only way to success (Innovate or Die) – Technology is always going to be our friend, so we better get used to it – It is always about the future, not the past – Be empathetic to people, show sympathy – Maintain transparent communication and don’t back down from speaking your mind – Own your mistakes
There were so many things I learnt from this book. Thanks, Bob!
Anyone who comes to the US for their masters, their first day at work is always special and something that they won’t forget for the rest of their lives.
My first day at Ford was no different. I still distinctly remember it as yesterday.
After arriving at Michigan, I had a good couple days before starting my job at Ford Motor Company. For those two days, I was alone at my Michigan apartment, as my then-roommate, Ravi, had plans to travel to Las Vegas to catch up with his masters friends. Not knowing how to drive and not owning a car back then made it difficult for me to get around. I had to get some food and supplies for the weekend, so I had to walk to the nearby Meijer store during the September weather. I was coming from Connecticut, so I wasn’t new to the cold weather in North America. However, one thing that I underestimated was the wind. I didn’t check how much windy it was going to get and though I was wearing my winter gloves, the wind and the stuff that I was carrying in my hands, hurt a lot. I remember coming home and soaking my hand in some hot water. The hot water felt extremely good after spending at least 45 minutes outside. I will never forget that day.
Getting back to the first day, as I mentioned, I didn’t know how to drive, so I had to book an Uber to get to my work location in Dearborn. I was living in Westland during that time, so it was going to be a 10-15 mile drive, which would roughly take 30 minutes. As it was my first day, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t delayed, so even though I was supposed to report at 8 AM, I booked my Uber at around 7 AM. It was a good decision as it took the Uber driver 15 minutes to get to my apartment.
After reaching the workplace, I waited patiently for 15 minutes before I was greeted by my recruiter and my manager. It was a strange feeling and I was excited to meet people whom I talked to during my interviews. It was strange because it was the first day after the Labor Day Weekend, so the building was not full of people. I was greeted warmly with my manager, who introduced me to a couple of teammates and to my buddy, a term we use at Ford who acts as a onboarding assistant to the team members. Patrick was my buddy for the day and I must say he made sure I am welcomed by the team and introduced me to at least 20 people on our team and floor.
I was given a laptop to go through a few trainings that we had at Ford. Before I realized, it was time for lunch and Patrick was kind enough to drive me to a nearby Chipotle. Suren also joined us and I had a good time eating out and hanging out.
After lunch, I spent most of my time going through more training and many teammates stopping by my desk and saying hello. I found it extremely soothing that my future teammates were coming to me and stopping by, asking about my past experience and skills set. I loved meeting everyone of them and I admit that I didn’t remember their names from the start, I had registered their faces with the kind of work they were doing.
By 4.30PM, I was about to head home and I wasn’t sure the protocol of closing the work. I quickly asked Patrick and he explained that the team is really cool with these “official” norms. I was so glad to hear that.
The highlight of the day for me was to go out for lunch and sort of imagining what my life would be working here. As I have mentioned earlier, I was sure that I wouldn’t stick here for long and a stint at Ford would turn out to be something different. Funny how things work out & that is for some different time.
For now, I was happy and relieved that I had a job that was helping me to pay my education loan and supporting my family back home.
Week 44 was okay-ish. Week 45, I don’t know, let’s find out!
Day 1 – Sunday, November 08, 2020 – WFH Day 237 With 2020 coming to an end sooner than expected, I still have more than 150 miles to go to complete 1,000 miles of running for the year. With this target in mind, I wanted to run some extra miles this week to get my running goal on track.
Sunday couldn’t have started in a better way. I got up early and got an early morning 5K under my belt. The weird thing about this run was that I was so excited to run outside in the morning that I forgot my both phone and Apple watch to record my run. I was too lazy to go inside to get either, so just went ahead with the run. As I was running on a familiar and usual route, I knew the distance I was about to run and recorded the approximate time of 36 minutes. The run was good and extremely pleasant, all because of the lovely Michigan weather.
Day 2 – Monday, November 09, 2020 – WFHDay 238 Monday started off with a better run than Sunday’s run.
Monday’s 10K came just before the lunch. The weather was so inviting and tempting that I couldn’t control going out for a run. Even though the run was really good, the after effect were worse.
Later at night when I was hitting the hay, I felt shooting pain in both my knees and immediately knew I would need some time to recover from the pain. I am not sure how many days I will have to skip running, but I would hope I will be able to run one more time before heading to Sunday.
Day 3 – Tuesday, November 10, 2020 – WFHDay 239 The first day of the injury and I spent the entire day limping and struggling to keep my left foot normally on the ground.
Day 4 – Wednesday, November 11, 2020 – WFHDay 240 The second day of the injury and the left knee is looking better. It is not normal but better than it was yesterday.
Day 5 – Thursday, November 12, 2020 – WFH Day 241 The third day of the injury and it was time for the right knee to take the hit. The right knee was in similar pain to the left knee was a couple days ago. Taking one day at a time.
Day 6 – Friday, November 13, 2020 – WFH Day 242 The fourth day of the injury and the right knee is feeling better. I think today is the day that both knees will be normal. That is my hope and I won’t be disappointed if that doesn’t come true.
Day 7 – Saturday, November 14, 2020 – WFH Day 243 Though both my knees are feeling better and things are looking normal now, I took Saturday as the rest day to recover fully before starting to run again. It was a hard decision as I could finish barely 10 miles for the week, which is far shorter than my weekly goal. Unfortunately, the week got over here, but I am determined to come stronger and achieving my weekly and yearly running goal.
Week 43 was not that great. Week 44, let’s find out.
Day 1 – Sunday, November 01, 2020 – WFH Day 230 The last week didn’t turn out the way I wanted, so I started this week on the right foot (literally).
I got up early in the morning and went out for a run. The Michigan weather was predicted to be awesome throughout the week, so when I opened my eyes, I knew I could squeeze in a quick 5K before breakfast. I took my usual old route for this run and couldn’t felt better. I could see the landscape changing from the sunny March weather to the cold November weather. I was reminiscing this surreal feeling, which helped with the run a lot. I kept the pace just around 10’ so that I don’t “run” short of breath. Such a nice feeling after so many days!
Day 2 – Monday, November 02, 2020 – WFHDay 231 Monday was a repetition of Sunday.
I took the same route like yesterday and though I would have loved to finish the run quite faster, I made my peace with the fact that I could finish a minimum of 5K two days in a row. The weather was extremely pleasant and I knew I could have gone for more distance but kept it at 3.4 miles to focus on work and some stuff that needed to be taken care of.
Day 3 – Tuesday, November 03, 2020 – WFHDay 232 It was a historical day in the US. We had the US Presidential Election Day in the US. Ford was generous enough to give us a holiday. I am not a US citizen, so couldn’t vote, but the excitement was palpable. I took care of some cleaning.
In the evening, we went for a 9-mile bike ride and it got really dark when we got back. It was stressful but at the same time an exciting day.
Day 4 – Wednesday, November 04, 2020 – WFHDay 233 The ripple effects of the mail-in ballot were felt on the second day of the US Presidential Election.
The election officials couldn’t arrive at a conclusion regarding the Presidential Election results, so that carried over to the second day.
My work day started at 6.30AM and I spent the whole day staring at my phone and checking for an update regarding the vote count. That didn’t happen and I felt so tired at the end of the day that I couldn’t go out for a run. By the time I went to bed, Vice President Biden had healthy chances to be in the lead, so I could sleep with ease.
Day 5 – Thursday, November 05, 2020 – WFH Day 234 On the third day of the vote count & we still didn’t have a clear winner, but Vice President Biden is in lead and it is just a matter of days that he would be announced President-Elect Joe Biden. Let’s see how it rolls out.
I could go out for a quick run before lunchtime. By now, I am used to guessing the time and pace that I take on my usual running route of 3.4 miles. It felt great to be out in the Sun and soaking in sunlight during Michigan November weather.
Day 6 – Friday, November 06, 2020 – WFH Day 235 This week had been extremely busy at work and Friday was no exception.
I had to spend most of my day staring at laptop screen and working on something important. Plus. US Presidential Election is finally showing some signs of coming to an end. Going in the weekend, I am feeling relaxed and not that much anxious. However, I haven’t achieved my weekly goal yet and desperately want to go out and get a good long run.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow, which is the last day of the week number 44.
Day 7 – Saturday, November 07, 2020 – WFH Day 236 The US Presidential Election finally came to a conclusion – choosing President-Elect Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States of America. This is certainly one of the most memorable days, not only for the USA, but for the entire world and supporters of combating global warming, COVID19, and other important things. I, for one, was happier, having witnessed the second Presidential Election of my lifetime in the greatest country in the world.
To celebrate this moment, I decided to go out for a run. Initially, the plan was to finish 4.6 miles of running as President-Elect Joe Biden is going to be the 46th President of the United States of America. As I got to the 4-mile mark, I noticed (& I have noticed it before, too), my adrenaline gets better off me whenever I cross a 4-mile mark. Suddenly, I started to pick up and I seemed unstoppable. I was so much into my zone that I didn’t even realize I took the longer route to home on my way back and by the time I reached home, I had finished 7.4 miles of running.
At the end of the run, I wasn’t tired at all and thought I could have gone for 10 more miles. Maybe because I was excited because of the election, maybe because I running such a long distance after a long time. Who knows?
I bought this because it was part of Bill Gates’ books list for Summer 2020. I was a little reluctant to buy it at first, since I had already read The Diary of a young girl, as both the books are written about the same topic. At the end of reading this book, I was so wrong about my initial perspective and was pleased to know I put time and efforts to read and go through this book and author’s life experienences.
About the author Kicking things off with the brief about the author. Dr. Edith Eva Eger. When the author was a 14 year old teenager, she was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, along with her sister Magda. The author was called “Eduka” by her sisters and mother. Being the youngest in the household, she had grown to be a sensitive little girl, who loved to spend time with her mother. She was the favorite of her father, and would discuss plethora of things with him. Her eldest sister Klara managed to escape the brutal experience that her sister faced in the Nazi regime. Dr. Eger, throughout her life, has not only shown the grit that you need to survive, but has helped countless other people to follow her footsteps. It is the work that she had done for the veterans, especially the ones who face PTSD, has gathered her accolades throughout the world and her TED talk is the one not to miss.
One takeaway from the book There are so many wonderful things to discuss and talk about this book, but if you like to take one thing away from the book, I would definitely say the FOUR QUESTIONS that Dr. Eger grew up with. In the book, growing up, it was her duty to ask these four questions whenever there was a stressful situation in her house.
It doesn’t become clear as to why she was the one asking these four questions, but in the last 10 pages, she reveals that it is a Hungarian tradition for the youngest kid in the house to ask these four questions (for whatever reasons).
These four questions and their explanation go as follows. 1. What do you want? 2. Who wants it? 3. What are you going to do about it? 4. When?
At first these seem quite simple and straight forward questions to answer, but if you dissect these in details, you will realize the tremendous impact of these questions and the reasoning behind those. For those, you can flip through the pictures in the gallery below. The sixth picture in the gallery tells you the significance of those four questions. It is safe to say that these four questions will remain with me throughout my life and I would try to remember them whenever I am not feeling confident and feeling like giving up. These four questions are so profound that I am literally getting goosebumps just thinking about those.
The choice: what is Dr. Eger is talking about? When I first started reading this book, I was faced with similar dilemma. What is the author trying to tell us? What message she is trying to tell us through the book and the title “The Choice”.
Dr. Eger reveals what she meant by The Choice in the penultimate chapter of the book. If you read this chapter, you are certain to get goosebumps as I did. The author has written this book and this chapter with so much care and attention to details, that you don’t hold yourself but imagine being at Auschwitz.
It was not evident to me why Dr. Eger chose to visit Auschwitz after decades. I didn’t understand why she chose to see the very place where her parents were brutally killed in the gas chamber by the Nazis. I didn’t get the idea of going through the same pain again, to experience something that happened decades ago.
I had no clue what was coming next.
Dr. Eger has mentioned in the book how her mother was sent to the gas chamber, how they were made to stand in a line and it was up to Mengele (Angel of Death) to decide who lives and who dies by suffocation in the gas chamber. When she mentions it the first time, it doesn’t feel that odd at first. When she revisits the same incident multiple times, you start to get curious why the author might be revisiting the same incident many times.
The author finally reveals what she had kept hidden throughout the book & when she finally reveals that, it just blew my mind.
The author explains – even after achieving so many things in life and helping numerous people get over their anxieties, depression, and other severe mental diseases, the author found it hard to forgive herself for the death of her mother. When they were standing in line, Dr. Eger was the before her mother and sister. When Mengele asked Dr. Eger who the next person in line was to her, she froze. For a young teenager to ask that question and (probably) knowing the significance of that question, it was a question of life or death. The author mentioned that every part of her body wanted to say that her mother was her sister, so she could stay with her in the concentration camp at Auschwitz, but the actual word that came out was “Mother”.
This word was something that she had grown up with, calling her mother as Mother. Though she tried extremely hard, she couldn’t come up with a word “sister” for her mother, because of which Mengele sent her mother to the right side of the line and Dr. Eger and her sister to the left side. Back then, nobody knew what was going to happen to them and what the meaning of those lines were. But, later the author realized the grave mistake she had committed and had been regretted throughout her life.
This was the reason she returned to Auschwitz to liberate herself from this burden of “possibly” causing the death of her mother. While explaining this experience, the author (very poignantly) tells reader that the prisons are within ourselves and it is up to us to liberate and free ourselves from those prisons. Nobody is going to free us from those internal prisons, but ourselves. And, that’s when the author makes “THE CHOICE” of freeing herself from this burden that she had been carrying throughout her life.
By returning to Auschwitz, she also proved that Hitler did finally loose, because after 3 decades, Hitler was dead and Dr. Eger was standing at the same spot that she did 3 decades ago.
It was really an awesome experience to read this chapter in particular and sort of relive those moments.
Apart from these two standouts, there were many moments that were as moving as any other moments. To be honest, if I write or talk about it, it will be too wordy and you might get bored of it.
I will leave a few bullets before I wrap this up. – Dr. Eger’s life in Prison – something that is unfathomable – Her physical transformation throughout World War II – I can’t even imagine going days and weeks without food – The American soldier who saved her life and liberated her from Germany – Her choice to go to America over an uncertain immigration to Israel – Her daily struggles with the American life and blaming them on her husband, Bela – Figuring things out slowly but eventually, divorcing Bela, remarrying him – Helping thousands of people with their mental struggle – Revisiting Auschwitz and finally liberating herself
Such a revolutionary book. I can’t express how important and moving this book was. Highly recommended!
When I got that call from my recruiter about the offer letter, I was less sure whether I would move to Michigan or not. After a series of negotiations and receiving rejection from other employers, I chose Michigan as my next destination. When I was planning to move to Michigan, I told myself, my stint here would be a short one and I won’t be able to stick around for more than a year. Three years have gone by and I am still here, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
Getting back to this day.
My fellow SGGS student in India and my future roommate, Ravi Soni, was kind enough to offer me a spare room in his apartment.
Ever since I left home for studies and jobs, I have been extremely fortunate and lucky to have been surrounded by lovely people, who helped me reserving the roof over my head. When I joined SGGS in Nanded, it was my fellow seniors, to whom I met by chance and they helped me reserve a room and a mess near their place. When I moved to Bangalore, it was my SGGS senior who helped me reserve an apartment close to my workplace, so that I didn’t have to spend money and time on travel. When I moved to the US, it was my roommate, Shlok, who took care of all logistics and made the cultural transition smoother than ever.
And now, it was going to be Ravi, who made sure I didn’t need to roam around to search for a place.
It was a good decision for me, as I didn’t know how to drive, so Ravi was going to help me going to places to shop and roam. When I was moving to Michigan, I didn’t know how important it would be to know how to drive. I learnt that the hard way, but that story is for later.
Again, getting back to this day, it was filled with emotions and gratitude.
Emotions for the time I spent at this wonderful place, surrounded by all my roommates, friends, and friends like family. I had booked an afternoon flight, so I made sure I stop at all places which are important to me and bade final goodbye before hopping on that flight to Michigan.
I stopped at Asmita bhabhi’s apartment. I made sure I bid goodbye to them in person. I had lunch with them and had a wonderful time there. After that, I made a quick stop at UConn’s downtown campus and did my part to bid goodbye to this wonderful place, which made it possible to start living my American dream. After UConn, the next and last stop was my apartment at 55 Trumbull St, I visited the basement and gym, where I spent most of my time and had fun doing it.
It was truly an end to my amazing time at Hartford and I could not wait to start my new life in Michigan. It was like a bag of mixed emotions. I was sad that I was leaving my cushy life at Hartford, surrounded by lovely people and my downtown life. At the same time, I was happy about the future that was awaiting for me in Michigan.
The moment was upon me when I was standing outside my apartment building and my Uber notified that my ride was 2 minutes away. I told myself that this was it and there was no turning back. I was preparing myself to bid goodbye to this lovely place for good and return it here only as a visitor. Within a minute or two, my Uber was standing before me. I hopped in it, kept my bags in the trunk, took one last look at the building and then carried on with my life.
I got to the airport in 15-20 minutes, and during this entire time, just thought about the good times that I had had at Hartford. My first day as an international student at UConn, the first time I sat in a classroom, the first time I travelled in the US, the first paycheck that I received, the first time I met *her* in the US, all the fun and memorable times I spent with both Shlok & Nidhi, all the fun outings with my cricket buddies, and countless bar hopping and their related experiences. There were too many things to reminisce.
I reached the airport and took care of all the official things. Waiting outside the boarding gate, I had enough time to think about all the lovely people that I had experience with at Hartford and the uncertainty of my new place in Michigan.
Every time I had moved in the past, I had been extremely lucky and fortunate that I had been surrounded by lovely people and I was praying that it would be the case in Michigan too. Being alone, anticipating so many things, and getting excited about the future that was unfolding before my eyes, I had nothing but hope for myself and I knew I would need to work harder to achieve it & I was ready for it.
When I was alone with my thoughts, I was disturbed by the boarding announcement and all my thoughts were evaporated in a few moments. The next best thing I could do was to sit back, relax, and enjoy my life that was unfolding before me faster than I expected.
The flight was uneventful as I slept most of the time. Upon arrival at the airport, I called Ravi and he greeted me the same way we used to during out undergrad. It was soothing to find out that neither of us changed in those few years. We were meeting for the first time after graduation and it was a nice feeling.
He made sure I was comfortable and had everything I need in the apartment. It took us about 20 minutes to reach at my new place and he was kind enough to cook something for me for dinner. I didn’t know he was that great a cook and definitely surprised myself. I realized – my roommates have always been great cooks.
It was a long day, it was a busy day. At the end of the day, I was lucky to have had a nice place to stay in a new city, a new place and I couldn’t be more grateful for the amazing people around me.
Hartford would always be a special place for me. This was the first place I stayed in the US and it will stay like that.
I, not only, earned my masters degree at Hartford, but also, developed life-lasting relationships. More than the grades, my academic year, my UConn life, I miss my life outside UConn and all the amazing friends/family that I hung out with. My Hartford days are dedicated to those individuals who made my life so much easier, funnier, and more memorable.
UConn life At UConn, I could do everything that I dreamt of when I was preparing for my GRE, TOEFL, and some visa applications. My ideal stay at UConn was to – not stress too much about studies – roam around the US, exploring some of the places that I *really* wanted to check out – make life-lasting friends and relationships – probably get a part-time job to support my *new* lifestyle – spend more time outdoors – adapt to the US culture
I was so glad that I could check off all the points above. Talking about studies, I had scored a C and an A+, so safe to say, I wasn’t focused on all courses that I took during my masters. With the help of my UConn and non-UConn friends, I could roam around the US. I explored both the coasts and my most memorable moment at Hartford was to spend time with her, traveling to different places. I developed so many friendships and relationship throughout my stay at UConn. I had never taken anything for granted and would never do it in future. Getting a part-time job was more of a necessity to support my lifestyle. I was fortunate to get not only one but two part-time jobs and the job that I loved immensely. I did spend a lot of time outdoors, especially playing cricket. I could adopt to the US culture, with not much difficulty. This was a key to developing and building professional relationships through networking with strangers.
Roommates I couldn’t have asked for better roommates. All of them were exceptional cooks. Before coming to the US, I had hardly spent any time in the kitchen, so I, obviously, faced a lot of difficulties dealing with it. Fortunately for me, my roommates came to my rescue and I picked my cooking mostly from all of my roommates. Apart from cooking, I relied on them for my studies too, to which they happily helped.
Cricket This was gamechanger for me. I had always been a cricket lover and enjoyed my time at my undergrad institute, captaining the college team to the runners-up title. I didn’t know my love for Cricket will help me make so many connections in Hartford. The most surprising fact was that I didn’t have to wait a lot to get to meet Cricket buddies. On my third day in the US, I was taking a stroll in Bushnell Park, when I met a few people, walking with the Cricket gear and I just asked if I could join them. Back then, I didn’t know that one simple question would lead to meeting so many amazing people in my life.
Asmita & Vibhuti Bhabhi Both Asmita and Vibhuti bhabhi ji have been my “sahelis” in Hartford. When we first met, I didn’t know we would build connection so instantly and ended up remain in touch. It was like meeting my friends from college after so many years. We used to cook together, drink tea together and chitchat together. I still remember the night when I was sipping my tea at 10PM before Bushnell Park and Vibhuti bhabhi was returning from somewhere and invited me over for the midnight snack and tea, which I couldn’t refuse and ended up having a blast. I will treasure these small moments with me, because, that’s what I crave for.
Shlok & Nidhi & then comes Shlok & Nidhi. I didn’t know anyone 8,000 miles away from my home would have as much impact on me as Shlok & Nidhi. When I met Shlok for the first time at our Hartford apartment, he had just deboarded a plane from India and was lighting a cigarette by the apartment window. At that moment, he came across a cool guy and someone who knows what he is doing in life. Later I would know that he surely knows how to take care of his people. When I first met Nidhi, she came across as someone who knows how to own a room. We (myself & Roushan) were visiting Nidhi with Shlok, as he had to pick some of the stuff that he had left when going for an internship at India. The way they exchanged pleasantries, poking fun at each other, and gossiping like long-lost friends, I knew this friendship is going to last and the love and respect was real. Fast forward one year, I was glad that I could hang out with both of them and travelled to so many places with them. They helped me adapt to the US culture before I realized and were instrumental in me becoming an extrovert.
Week 42 was exceptionally well for me. Let us see how week number 43 turns out.
Day 1 – Sunday, October 25, 2020 – WFH Day 223 I really wanted to start the week in the right way and planned to go out for a quick run in the morning, but the weather wasn’t ideal for me and I procrastinated a little bit, hence, skipping my run.
The afternoon was spent at Lake St. Clair MetroPark. We had been here in the Summer and at that time, this place was filled with many people. As it has started to get chillier in Michigan, we were among the handful of people at this park. We walked by the lake and had some relaxed time in the cold Michigan weather.
Day 2 – Monday, October 26, 2020 – WFHDay 224 One more rest day of this week.
I had enough reasons not to go for a run today. Hopefully, I will be able to reveal in future what this day signifies. I am happy to express that I am blessed and humbled!
Day 3 – Tuesday, October 27, 2020 – WFHDay 225 Third rest day of the week. Even though I wanted to go out for the run, I couldn’t as it was raining throughout the day.
Because of yesterday, I could sleep peacefully last night and slept like a baby.
Day 4 – Wednesday, October 28, 2020 – WFHDay 226 The first run of the week came today.
We were on our way to NHS as usual, but found there were many people running and practicing Football, so to avoid the crowd, we headed to the Meads Mill Middle School. The track at MMMS NHS was busy with Football practice, so headed to Meads Mill.
Had fun while running at the new spot. I could complete 5K in 28 minutes. As much as that is impressive for me, I did feel intimated by a few professional runners that were running on the track with me. They zoomed past me numerous times!
Day 5 – Thursday, October 29, 2020 – WFH Day 227 Fourth rest day of the week and my procrastination is to blame. I think this is one of those weeks when I am not motivated enough to go out for a run.
After the work, I went for a quick walk at Maybury State Park.
Day 6 – Friday, October 30, 2020 – WFH Day 228 What an awesome 10K run.
I ran on this route after a long time. When the quarantine started back in March, I used to take this route almost every day and for every run. I got used to this route so much that it started to get boring almost immediately. The weather changed, so did my running route.
It felt so great to finally take the same route that I used to take a few months ago, as it brought back so many memories and I could witness the changes in the trees. I am looking forward to more runs on this route.
Day 7 – Saturday, October 31, 2020 – WFH Day 229 I woke up early for a Saturday to go out for a quick run. The weather had other plans and it was extremely cold for me, so I started prepping for breakfast.
After breakfast, it was time to head to one of the Metroparks in Michigan – Indian Springs Metropark. It was the first time I was visiting this Metropark. The beauty of this metro park wasn’t something I craved about, but the trails and lake was something I could see myself doing the trail running. I might come back here for some running activities in the future. Let’s see.
This brings us to the end of the week. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even complete 10 miles this week, but I think, I have enough reasons to bounce back faster next week.
Before you go, please check out the weekly highlight.
After having the time of my life with Shlok & Nidhi, it was time to rewind back, relax, and enjoy some family time with my cricket buddies.
During this point in my life, I had already – graduated from UConn – secured my job at Ford – took care of my stay at Michigan – applied for my EAD card – was living with my roommates/cricket buddies/other friends
Safe to say, I was living a life of a nomad during this time in my life. I couldn’t have done that without my friends in Hartford. Everyone were so supportive and helpful with my living situation. The only thing I was waiting for was my EAD card. In the US, you can’t work for an employer without an EAD card. As USCIS takes at least 90 days to issue one, I had to wait for quite some time before I could join Ford in Michigan. My point of contact was very supportive with my situation and made sure I was comfortable during our weekly check-ins.
Anyway, it was time for me to let loose and enjoy some free time before I move to Michigan and get into my daily job.
This time, we decided to explore the beach in a local state park – Rocky Neck State Park. This was the first state park I was going to visit in the US, and back then, I didn’t know that I would end up visiting so many state, metro, and national parks during my stay in the US. My friend, Subhav, after playing a game of cricket on a Sunday afternoon asked me if I was free after the game. I didn’t have any plans, so mentioned that I was free and he invited me to join him and others at Rocky Neck State Park.
Not aware about what to expect while going to a park, I asked what are we going to do there and what’s the plan. Good that I asked him that question, as I got change of clothes.
The drive to the park was nice and a short one. The state park wasn’t too far from our place in Hartford, so I don’t think we spent more than an hour reaching this place.
The state park was amazing. I didn’t know what to expect, but when I found out that the parking had the direct access to the beach, I was sold. The beach was full of people. We tried to find a spot and once we were settled, it was time to get in the water.
The weather that day (I still remember) was sunny and extremely pleasant. Coupling this pleasant weather with the blue water elevated the experience to the next level. I took some time to take off my T-shirt as I was slightly overweight during this time in my life. After hesitating for a few minutes, I overcame my hesitation, and finally let loose. The first dive that I took in water, I felt so cold, I wanted to get out of it. But, as the time passed, I got comfortable inside and carried on like that.
I didn’t know how to swim back then, so didn’t go too much deep in the water. Asmita Bhabhi and Vibhuti Bhabhi joined me in the water after some time. I was (as you must have guessed) given the job to click as many photos as I could, which I did and most of them came nice. After I got out of water, it was time to have some home cooked food and stretch my legs a little bit. Scenes outside the water were same. I ended up clicking many pictures and got to play with my favorite Miththu.
I was too tired on the way back and ended up having dinner at Asmita bhabhi’s place. It was a good day, well spent with the family.
stochasticity 