After nearly 20 years spoke to my friend yesterday and my happiness knew no bounds when we had a happy chat that we had to, to catch up with the 20 years that separated us apart. Conversation was so lovely and I really went back to the period we were together and felt so happy.
During the chat she causally told, considering my caliber she had thought I would have been settled in US. OF course this is not the first time I am hearing some one say this.. I have heard this many times from many people and it has always been, as though they feel sorry that I am in India, while I should have been in the US considering my grades in school and college, my attitude, my hard work etc etc required for so called successful life - of getting settled in the US. I have never ever tried to justify to anyone of what I feel and all along such occasions, just left the conversation open and never revealed of what was running in my mind.
Why do people judge or rather measure happiness and a successful life by money, fame or things like getting settled with a good house and job in a foreign land like the US? May be money determines the quality of life we live. May be it is true. However are these the only parameters that determine if a person is successful. May be not. But person settled in India if he argues in favor of deriving happiness by not going to US, it is just NOT believed by society and think the person says so because he has been incapable to do so, which actually may not be the case. So I do not like going into conversations around this topic, as I find it difficult to explain people and convince them on anything, which I do not want to do also.
For me, if I were in US rather than in India, I would have definitely saved more money, but the clothes that I wear, the food that I eat, the books that I read, the songs that I hear, the stories that I write, the colors that I like would have remained the same. In fact for these liking of mine, US would have been a difficult place, a I would have had to adjust with the clothes, food etc available there. So happiness is in mind and money or place cannot bring more happiness unless our mind allows us to stay happy or unhappy.
