Heavy metal band Metallica's hit song "Wherever I May Roam... where I lay my head is home.." might be quite an apt song to describe the change of residences I and my parents have undergone through the years. Of course one can only imagine how incongruous it would be to see my father belting out "Wherever I may roam.." from the pulpit.
As most of you might know my dad (and mom) are employed by the Mizoram Synod Presbyterian Church - the largest Christian denomination in Mizoram. This entailed that we shifted our places of residence quite frequently due to my father being sent hither and thither for higher studies and his various postings under the Synod. Since the time I was born we have moved house at least SIXTEEN times. That's sixteen times in approximately 30 years! Most of you would not move house even once in your whole lifetime.
The obvious advantages of moving house often is that I'm not stuck with the same silly view from my bedroom for my whole life. I mean having to wake up every morning and having to see that stupid silly Reiek mountain for the rest of my life could be so very boring! Jokes apart it was a good way to make new friends and see new places at the expense of people contributing 1/10th of their income to the church. (Keep that 1/10th coming in folks!). It also enabled us to receive decent education outside Mizoram, something which many middle class families could not afford in those days. In the early nineties the only kids from Mizoram who could afford to study in Bangalore were those whose dads were doctors or engineers or related to a politician! We also got to live in relatively nice houses provided to my Dad by the Synod.
The other side of the coin is that I had to keep making new friends and I kept losing track of the friends I'd made. Sometimes I'm slightly envious of my friends who talk about their childhood friends with whom they grew up next door to each other their whole life. And when one keeps moving we don't have long lasting memories of the places we've lived in. And last but not the least the most annoying thing is the packing/unpacking/repacking of stuff that we need to shift from one place to another. I'm quite an expert now in packing 12 piece dinner sets so that even if dropped from 10 feet high they wouldn't break.
Anyway early this December my father was sent packing (pun intended) from his post as the principal of the Aizawl Theological College to Nagpur to take charge of his new post as the General Secretary of the NCCI (A Christian Organization). So poor old me and my creaking bones had to make the trip home from Bangalore to Aizawl to help out and help out I did! For proof check pic below -
We sent some of our stuff via plane from Aizawl to Calcutta via air and I had to go to Lengpui Airport and coax and cajole the Air India cargo staff in allowing us to send all our suspicious looking parcels via the Air India flight to Calcutta. Exciting stuff! My brother took charge of the consignment in Calcutta and sent it on its merry way via truck to Nagpur. We're thinking of starting a new business as movers and packers. The less said of the the journey from Aizawl to Nagpur the better it will be. Tempers get frayed when your total luggage weight exceeds the allowed luggage limit on the plane by 200 kgs!! Luckily we met (a) few friends at Lengpui Airport who helped us out in weighing our luggage with theirs. Hey DDB Thanks!
As I'd mentioned before the quarters provided to us are usually quite lovely and the place in Nagpur was no different so the soothing environment of the General Secretary's quarters helped in easing our minds so much so that my brother promptly decided to quit his job in Calcutta and move to Nagpur. It even has a bloody lotus pond complete with fishes in the frontyard. Groovy!
Pic below of House and Pond with my niece and her new found friends (Remember what I said about making new friends!)
The day we moved into the new place my dad told us with a smile on his face that we probably shouldn't bother unpacking since the NCCI office would be shifted from Nagpur to Delhi in 2013...
Unrelated Note: I changed over to the new blogger profile and it has totally messed up the fonts . Google, I am disappoint! (Yes Google owns blogger in case anyone didn't know)
Unrelated Note 2: Figured it out. The editor needed to be upgraded. I love you Google!.
Unrelated Note 2: Figured it out. The editor needed to be upgraded. I love you Google!.
