Dreams do come true and so did it happen with me when my long time pen friend visited my place, Hyderabad on December 23, 2011 at 7.15 p.m. for the first time in our eleven years of friendship.
Seems like 2011 is the year when all my dreams (wishes) came true. I got my first SLR, Canon 550D from my childhood friend of 27 years of acquaintance who while talking to me on my 32nd birthday ordered the SLR online and it reached me. Also the ipod i've been waiting for so long also came to me in 2011.
The biggest surprises of all, my pen friend, Marie Bunes's visit to India for the first time also happened in 2011.
Meeting Marie was the only pending thing in my wish list for a long long time and it just happened. That's the reason why i am sharing my joy, happiness with everyone through this blog post.
Despite being so tightly placed with schedules, Marie Bunes made it to Hyderabad, India and spent 12 days altogether with my family, meeting relatives and friends, celebrating Christmas outside her home for the second time in her life away from her mom & dad, sticking to the itinerary without ever judging or complaining, enjoying the best of Indian cuisine (her favourite being Paneer Butter Masala) along with wada pav, pav bhaji, pani puri (her favourite), making a pilgrimage to the famous Hyderabadi restaurant, Paradise to have the traditional Hyderabadi Biryani (she's a vegetarian BTW) and my mom's lovely food, wearing the traditional Indian Saree, mehndi sessions (twice when she arrived and the day of leaving)... visiting the historic places in and around Hyderabad, spending a night at Jiddu Krishnamurti's retreat centre in Hyderabad, Naimisam, travelling in trains for the Indian commuting experience (both in sleeper class which is used by 90% of train travellers and AC class), spending the new year in the serene natural atmosphere of Rishi Valley, KFI, South India, learning few dishes of Indian cuisine along with custard fruit salad (learnt and prepared herself and fed us all), visiting all the temples in the vicinity to know the Indian way of spirituality (Ramakrishna Math, Ananda Buddha Vihara (the only Buddhist monastery in town), Tirumala Tirupati temple, Lord Rama's temple, Lord Ganesh's temple etc). The most important of all, despite few hours to her return flight to Oslo, Marie patiently sat and prepared 'Greek Salad' with her hands (i asked her to prepare something which she eats in Norway usually and here was a thing which we tasted for the first time in our lives). With feta cheese (goat cheese from Greece), olives, olive oil, green leaf lettuce etc, it was all a new experience of a different taste. A Norwegian preparing Greek salad for the Indians...
Coming from a free society to a culturally sensitive society, Marie adjusted pretty fast and adopted to things very well.
Highlight: a friend of mine asked me a few days before Marie landed here, 'how is your friend going to stay in such a small place? you think she will be able to stay and adjust?' I just had only one reply to him, 'Our hearts are bigger than our humble home, so she will definitely enjoy her time at my home and with my family.' Marie in fact surprised us all during her stay. She turned out to be a simple and humble human being. Just like everyone else. It's only that we think much about others and are more cautious about things, otherwise, life is the same in the east and also in the west. Food to eat, bed to sleep, life to enjoy, the way it is...
Before Marie landed here, i was a bit skeptical as to how she would take things here considering that things are a bit different in India and India is not West but i heaved a sigh of relief when she told that she wanted to be an Indian in India and is okay with anything with no expectations at all... Assuring further, I also told her that i am going to give her an Indian experience because luxuries and all that can be had anywhere in the world even in the middle of a desert but to enjoy life as it is in India, the way we live every day and get along with the things can be had only with an Indian family when one lives with them, is something special. I didn't change anything at home for Marie's stay so as to give her a peek into our actual real life and she also lived comfortably (i think). Love was the only common things among the people whom she met, family members, relatives or friends. What else is free to give to anyone to feel the bond between lives? We don't own anything on this Earth. I laugh every time reminiscing this sentence which stuck me sometime back, "I own a piece of land on Earth..." Share and enjoy...that's what life is all about...
12 days just flew by with Marie and she left to Oslo on 3rd January 2012 at 6.15 p.m.
To quote Kahlil Gibran, "Seek friend always with hours to live. And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."
Celebrating Marie Bunes's birthday with a collage...
Seems like 2011 is the year when all my dreams (wishes) came true. I got my first SLR, Canon 550D from my childhood friend of 27 years of acquaintance who while talking to me on my 32nd birthday ordered the SLR online and it reached me. Also the ipod i've been waiting for so long also came to me in 2011.
The biggest surprises of all, my pen friend, Marie Bunes's visit to India for the first time also happened in 2011.
Meeting Marie was the only pending thing in my wish list for a long long time and it just happened. That's the reason why i am sharing my joy, happiness with everyone through this blog post.
Despite being so tightly placed with schedules, Marie Bunes made it to Hyderabad, India and spent 12 days altogether with my family, meeting relatives and friends, celebrating Christmas outside her home for the second time in her life away from her mom & dad, sticking to the itinerary without ever judging or complaining, enjoying the best of Indian cuisine (her favourite being Paneer Butter Masala) along with wada pav, pav bhaji, pani puri (her favourite), making a pilgrimage to the famous Hyderabadi restaurant, Paradise to have the traditional Hyderabadi Biryani (she's a vegetarian BTW) and my mom's lovely food, wearing the traditional Indian Saree, mehndi sessions (twice when she arrived and the day of leaving)... visiting the historic places in and around Hyderabad, spending a night at Jiddu Krishnamurti's retreat centre in Hyderabad, Naimisam, travelling in trains for the Indian commuting experience (both in sleeper class which is used by 90% of train travellers and AC class), spending the new year in the serene natural atmosphere of Rishi Valley, KFI, South India, learning few dishes of Indian cuisine along with custard fruit salad (learnt and prepared herself and fed us all), visiting all the temples in the vicinity to know the Indian way of spirituality (Ramakrishna Math, Ananda Buddha Vihara (the only Buddhist monastery in town), Tirumala Tirupati temple, Lord Rama's temple, Lord Ganesh's temple etc). The most important of all, despite few hours to her return flight to Oslo, Marie patiently sat and prepared 'Greek Salad' with her hands (i asked her to prepare something which she eats in Norway usually and here was a thing which we tasted for the first time in our lives). With feta cheese (goat cheese from Greece), olives, olive oil, green leaf lettuce etc, it was all a new experience of a different taste. A Norwegian preparing Greek salad for the Indians...
Highlight: a friend of mine asked me a few days before Marie landed here, 'how is your friend going to stay in such a small place? you think she will be able to stay and adjust?' I just had only one reply to him, 'Our hearts are bigger than our humble home, so she will definitely enjoy her time at my home and with my family.' Marie in fact surprised us all during her stay. She turned out to be a simple and humble human being. Just like everyone else. It's only that we think much about others and are more cautious about things, otherwise, life is the same in the east and also in the west. Food to eat, bed to sleep, life to enjoy, the way it is...
12 days just flew by with Marie and she left to Oslo on 3rd January 2012 at 6.15 p.m.
To quote Kahlil Gibran, "Seek friend always with hours to live. And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."
Celebrating Marie Bunes's birthday with a collage...
Some things happen because they have to happen...
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