My recent blog , “ Away from Home” (https://mysticalmana.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/away-from-home/ ) was all about my journey from India to US , and my transformation from a daughter to a wife .
The journey is still on for me since 4 months, the reason being … 8000 miles of distance now between my family & me!!!
But thank god for the person who invented something called “Video calls”, the journey is going smooth so far 🙂
Frankly I have no clue who got this brilliant idea of a video call , but whoever it was , I must say hats off to this idea …. Life would have been so damn difficult for people who stay away from their family & friends… I mean can you imagine not seeing a person for months together?
And before this invention it has been the worst thing for lots and lots of people who have gone there ages back, who had to merely survive on communication through a handwritten letter, 1 phone call on Saturdays or more recently email. We then evolved to chatting on various messengers, social networking sites along with the blessing of “Video Calls”
Before coming to US , I was in a long distance relationship with my hubby for 5 long years. Trust me its a true test of patience, love, trust and a lot of other things. Video calling helped us remain connected through every moment of life, it helped us give each other the assurance that no matter what, we are always there for each other through ups and downs and above all nothing will ever change between us. Its was a real blessing for us to maintain our relationship.
Now that I am here in the USA with my hubby , its difficult to stay away from my family.I wonder what would I do if there was no Video Calling. My family speaks to me at least 2 hrs a day daily on Skype… Its that easy and its been like a routine now !!
Beautiful and special moments like our Parent’s Wedding Anniversary, our dad’s birthday have been celebrated on this wonder tool called Skype.
It felt like we were very much among them. Even they feel the celebration is incomplete without us and this tool just helps make every celebration complete.Its so much of fun when we get to see our grandparents & celebrate something with them, especially when they are living 8000 miles away. The joy on their faces is priceless when they see their grandchildren … Its truly worth every effort !
When do we Indians miss our families the most? Definitely your answer has to be “Festivals”. This is the time, we look forward to being at home with our parents and near and dear ones. Being in US the 1st festival I truly missed was HOLI. Every year on Holi I would make sure I drenched my sister with water when she would come back from work. But this year she was alone. She was not ready to celebrate it without me. But guess what – we celebrated our favorite festival Holi together. I decided to get some gulal ( color ) from an Indian Store here and called them on Skype and celebrated it together.It was really amazing. The feeling of happiness & joy was all over the place.
Recently , my mom was admitted to the hospital for something minor.You know it feels at that moment, you just want to be there holding her hands and making sure you are with her !!! But in my case I was feeling totally helpless sitting here in US, regretting that I came here, leaving them behind in India. I didn’t know what to do. Even my mom wasn’t ready to stay in the hospital for more than a day because she couldn’t talk to me on Skype. Then my sister decided to take the laptop to the hospital and finally I could have a video call with mom on Skype… It felt so good that I could at least be with her indirectly if not there personally.
Such is the power of technology and inventions. We call it a nuisance sometimes, but most of the times it turns out to be a blessing.
Tons of blessings to the person who invented it ……….. And this comes from the bottom of my heart !!
A blog site from Manali Desai 