Having travelled to many places with different means, now I can manage to wander anywhere in the world. But there was a time when I was travelling alone for the first time and felt lost in the bus station, trying to figure out whether bus has arrived from or departing for my intended destination. Same kind of experience I had with my first train ride. I had struggled to figure out right train and didn’t get on the train as I was not sure if its the right train. I would also not ask people around, as I was told by friends not to appear as the new rider :), and so I was posing as confident as I can, but inside I was so much puzzled. Anyway I later went to train master and managed to get into the next train 🙂
Going to study in a different city and to live in a hostel, was a dream. I used to think that I love dad more over mom (thinking she loves my brothers more) , and so while leaving home I wondered when mom was crying while seeing me go. I told everybody home that I will return home after a month or two only and would not visit so frequently. I said, I am gonna chill so don’t worry. I still remember it was a Thursday when I left for the hostel. To everybody’s surprise I was home on Saturday evening as I missed home so much and most of the times my mother (that means seeing whole family laughing at me). But I realised for the first time, how much my mom did for me and told my dad that I love mom more. In that whole academic year I had visited home almost every weekend doing 3 hours journey 🙂
Giving speech to a large audience was something I was not comfortable with. One day my classmate came and told me that he has forwarded my name from the girls for our annual day speech. I got nervous as annual day speech means speaking in front of Head of the department and all the professors and invited chief guests. But then I told myself its a good chance to get my frustration out and testing my public speaking skills for the first time. Though the speech was supposed to be in English language, I gave it in native Gujarati language. And result was a pure fun. Through out my speech everybody (except our HOD) was laughing and enjoying as if they also wanted to convey the same thing to the department folks. So basically I didn’t lie a single thing and shared true feelings with a bit of humour, and so later most people and other student speakers came to me and said I am so brave to share true experiences openly. For me it’s a most funny speech I have ever given.
There are so many things which were adventurous, made be a bit nervous at first or was total fun, such as first interview, my first salary, punching a guy in the public place, teaching little kids at municipal school, texting a co-worker I haven’t met in person before, saying a big NO for right reasons, serving a very bitter tea to a police officer(Dad’s friend) so that he never asks for the same again, standing inside the airforce training academy, breaking into royal’s house and then having a tea later ;), breaking into my own house and taking a breath later :), becoming too religious at one point, understanding atheism, first swimming lesson and so on (wow! this list just made me think that my life was never boring).
So now back to where I started, initial feelings for changing a career field neither seemed logical nor required. I waited for the good, I resisted the change which had already made its place inside me. Said No to almost everything, but then something interesting clicked my mind and I just started riding my thought train. To be an entrepreneur in food industry means reaching out to the places and people, be it suppliers, potential customers, labours, cooks, farms, stores etc. Being a capricorn its very hard to interact with strangers at first and start a conversation, but I am learning it and enjoying as well. When Dad was alive, I had told him once that I want to do something in food industry, and his reply was a bit sarcastic. I wish he was with me this moment to see his little girl doing it in real.