Today is World Gratitude Day and since I’m in a different time zone, I am posting this a whole day early in my new time zone and possibly a day late in my old time zone.

Anyways, as I write this post, I realise that I have a lot to be grateful for : mainly a world so sweet.

Travel

Early this month I had to make an almost 24 hour journey from Mumbai to Newark. I had a 9 hour flight , a 7 hour layover and another 9 hour flight . Even if you spare no expense ensuring a comfortable flight, the actual journey is not a breeze especially for the infant who is travelling with you.

But I  grateful that baby in question behaved well, the flights were comfortable , the immigration process hassle free and all in all a journey that didn’t leave us exhausted.

Settling in

Settling in a new place is hard so I am all the more grateful that we had friends and friends of friends who are actual complete strangers who reached out and helped us .

Indeed I am specially grateful to my old school friend who has more than helped us – actually holding our hands while we find our feet.

Being Indian

[Tweet “Only when you are out of India do you appreciate the madness, the chaos, the mess that is India.”]

What I miss most is the lack of Public transport. What is the point in all those fancy cars zipping by when I can’t drive one ?

I also miss the freedom of being able to just tuck the baby under my arm and cab it to any place. A car seat is a must and if you don’t have your own car, you are pretty much stuck even if you have a car seat because you can’t lug it all over the place.

Technology

I would have been completely cut off from the world were it not for my iPhone that helps me FaceTime and WhatsApp and connect with everybody back home and here.

Travel has been made comfortable and affordable because of advances in technology .

Settling in is facilitated by electronic banking, navigating new areas is possible with GPS and shopping is a breeze with online stores .

The world so sweet

In these two weeks we’ve had to rely on many strangers – some were paid to help us whike most  volunteered.

So I have a lot to be grateful for.

But life is a two way street . I know that I may not necessarily be able to help those who’ve helped me today. But I also know that I will help others and pass it on .

Linking this up with #WriteTribe and #WorldGratitudeDay.