Indian Samurai इंडियन सामुराई

I may have not written a lot lately but I haven’t stopped reading.

And like often, my books are about India…

In English, I just finished East of the Sun by Julia Gregson.

Beyond the mushy romance (that I personally love and I’m not ashamed of it!), this book makes you travel in the twenties when you British girls were crossing the sea to go to India and marry officers.

And what a party time it was for most of the colonizers! The novel however finishes with the end of an era, with Independence coming up, and many Britishers leaving…

But at the end, the three heroines settle down in India!

One fine day you wake up and you realize that you have just crossed a new milestone. And spent six years in India. It makes you laugh. Six years, it is about the life span of an Irish Hound – sorry about that, it happens when you deal with pets all the time! 

Six years… But how is it even possible? 

Pinch me, I’m dreaming…

An Indian friend asked me recently why I was staying in India. A valid question, if not a good one… So here is what came to my mind: “Have you ever spent six years in a foreign country? No? Well then it becomes home…” Quite accurate I think. 

No question of “being in love” with India, or addicted to the lifestyle, meaning you have someone to do everything for you (but I haven’t adopted this lifestyle). After sometime it is all about finding your balance I guess. 

I think about this answer every time I click on “Take me home” on my GPS…

As far as the next question is concerned, “How long are you planning to stay?” I have no answer and I’m not even looking for one! Carpe diem…

A few days later I met a Finn who had arrived a few weeks before. He was happy, he felt he “belonged”. I reacted a bit, because I don’t think foreigners can really “belong” to India. You may have your home here without really belonging I think. We are never invisible here… 

Probably he meant that he was feeling quite comfortable, and not as lost as tourist….

So here I am, six years in India… Two in Pune, three in Mumbai, one in Delhi. But this is not the time yet to look back on this crazy year… Soon… I am just happy I am still alive, mentally sane, and nervously almost stable! 

I haven’t written in a while.

Many reasons…

Work has taken too big a part in my life (in terms of time and complexity) and even if there are a lot of situations that could keep me busy writing about for years, I prefer not to discuss this online. Besides it didn’t leave me much time to write at all.

My private life is a mess. But I'm holding on! Going with the flow...

So my life this year, it’s been a bit like this:

Or even more like this:

Well, simply IndianSamourai!