Having a Good Day

I think its fair to say that I’ve had a good day today. Not because I had a great scoop of Alfonso Mango ice cream at Baskin Robbins, or because I found my first Indian supermarket, or because I joined the Indian middle class by buying a Barista Lavazza Privilege Card (take THAT Starbucks!) It’s also not because Mumbai suddenly got a cold spell, or because I managed to invent a personal air conditioning unit, or because I met a super-hot girl (obviously none of this happened.) In fact, today, I have actually sweat through my shirt at least 3 times, wandered around aimlessly in the heat, and eaten lunch by myself again.

Sometimes though, it is not the things you do or the things that you see or the things that surround you that can make a day good. No, today was made good by the emails I received in my inbox from some of my really good friends back home. It’s always nice to receive emails when you’re on the road. They tend to be unexpected little pieces of home; comforting melodies of familiar voices that you can hear in your head while you are reading. Some are transactional in nature – responses to your queries, requests for help, curiosity about where you are, or invitations to birthday parties or something like that. Others, like the ones I got today, are less focused. That’s what makes them so enjoyable.

As I’ve mentioned before, one of the hardest things to deal with when away from home is not being able to be near good friends. It goes beyond just keeping in touch; as many people assert – you don’t have to talk with friends every day in order to remain close. However, there is something intensely special about being involved with good friends on a daily basis. The feeling that you not only know what is going on but actually play a role in each others lives is rewarding. There are times when I get a bit depressed thinking about all of the ‘shit-shooting’ that I miss out on with my friends when I’m not at home. I know it must sound odd, but I guess it’s fair to say that I sometimes miss the mundane details of my friends’ lives. Even with the help of technology making communications incredibly inexpensive, unavoidable things like time differences and vastly different living environments make picking up the phone and talking about how good lunch was, or the strange characteristic of quick-dry shirts smelling pretty nasty after being wet (they do, don’t they?), rather difficult.

The nice thing about the emails I received today was that they covered not only the “here’s what’s been going on in my life for the past few months” but also more random “slice of life” things; food, fears, gripes about coffee. Moreover, when reading the emails, I could hear my friends’ voices, their inflections, their expressions, and their mood. They were almost like a stream of consciousness, where for a brief moment, I was hanging out with my friends again in a comfortable and comforting space. They brought me closer to home, even if it was only in my head and only for a few minutes. Sometimes though, after being away from everyone for five months, that’s all that you need to have a good day.