Go Goa?
An old house?...hmmmm ok ...NOW .... a 100 year old house? WOW... get it?
That's what my husband and I thought too. Well, the husband being an architect was educationally qualified to go cuckoo over the construct and conduit of a house. Not me, the humble Corporate Communications person. But cuckoo we both are about house decor and of beautiful things in general.
Now, I would never have the gumption to move anywhere, if it weren't for someone to push me in the rear or at least make some good logical sense to make me want to move from my comfort zone. I will have to admit...I am human...I like being in my comfort space, surrounded by the familiar and the family and the routes and sights I have known for all my life. In all my 30 + years of existence, I haven't moved away from Bombay. I guess it was time to do some experimenting, by moving into our own home, away from home.
What better time than just when you've had a baby, right? Wrong! Which morons in their right minds would want to change their lives so drastically? US! Having a baby was in itself was the most life altering act and to make it even more interesting, we had to embark on this journey, with no family support, no house help, no maids and no nannies and no creches! How brilliant. I don't know what it was that made us do what we did but we did and have survived to tell the tale.
I do believe in Signs, signs that the universe signals at us, for our inner antennae to tune into. The one big sign, that I couldn't possibly miss, even if all my tuning was kaput. My little boy decided to come into this world on December 19th, Goa's Liberation Day! What more can I say...besides all the many other rational reasons to this move, this one for me spelled it out loud. Go Goa, is what i heard.
It's been a hard one year, there have been several battles that escalated to full blown wars as we tried to cope with living in Goa. I have to say, Goa does not embrace you immediately. She loves the dalliance of fleeting tourists but for people who stand ground, she makes them work hard and only when she was convinced in some strange, twisted way that we had earned her respect, is when she relented. Relented, to make it easier on us, relented to be patient with us as we were struggling to come to terms with all the challenges she threw at us and finally, accepting US as we accepted her. It is only now that we can say, yup...this is home...even if i may say so reluctantly...for now... as my love, Bombay is seen smarting over my supposed infidelity.
Through all of these struggles, I can't help but be so damn proud of ourselves. Where most people are risk / change averse in their mid life, we took a plunge into unchartered territory with baby in tow. The husband took it upon himself to shoulder on the responsibility of being the sole bread earner while I took it upon me to be a mum, the best way I know, hands on, often on my fours.
And from that position of utter humility and despair at times, I see the bigger picture. The bigger picture of shaping this child in this fantastic environment, the quality of family time, the essence of being who you are and enjoying the simple things of life and really for once Living...living a dream that I possibly didn't dream for myself but am so happy and grateful that it is part of my destiny.
Living under an open roof while the roof was being repaired.
