The stay order

A long long time ago, Ptolemy concluded that the earth was the centre of the solar system and the sun revolved around it.

A long long time ago, Sayesha also concluded something. That India was the centre of the world, and everything else revolved around it.

When I was a kid, the world was a sphere full of places that you read about in a subject called geography. But there was only one place for me and others like me, to live in, and that was India. I lived in the centre of the world, the best place in the world. I had no reason to live elsewhere. The people who lived in the other places were a different kind, and I would never have anything to do with them ever in my life.

And then I heard about about someone I knew moving to this weird place called America. So I adjusted my theory and said, okay, maybe people like me go and stay in difference places in the world, but they always come back to live in their home, no matter how many years it takes them.

According to me, the earth was round in shape instead of stretching on endlessly, so that such people could go around it, see what they had to see, stay where they wanted to see, and come back home - to live in India - the centre of the world.

Two weeks ago, on 18th July 2006, I completed 8 years in Singapore. That's longer than my stay in any city in India. Two more years to go before I complete my bond. And after that, I'll have to decide. I'll have to decide which is home. I have to figure out what home really is.

All this while, my life had been pre-set. I had to live in Singpore till 2008. That was my fate, and not a bad one at that. The country has been good to me. But I could never see myself settling down here. I always thought I'd be going back to India. But now, as I near the magic number of 2008, I have to decide where I want to spend the rest of my life.

Is it Singapore where my job and friends are? Is it India where my family is? Or is it somewhere else?

A friend was discussing this with me and she asked, "Perhaps you should start thinking -- what's the most important factor that will determine which country you want to settle down in?"

"Umm... I dunno... availability of good pani puris?" I said.

(No, I wasn't joking.)

So I decided to make a list. A Singapore vs India list.

If I live in Singapore, I would be close to India.
But if I live in India, I'd be even closer to India.

Singapore has mee goreng and prata.
But India has the awesomest thing in the world - roadside panipuri.

India has my roots.
But Singapore has my job.

In India, you can be mugged and robbed anytime of your belongings.
But in Singapore, they say you've already been robbed of your freedom.

India has many crazy seasons that often go out of control.
Singapore has control over its one crazy season.

In India, I can walk around like I own the place.
But in Singapore, I can walk around without getting eve-teased.

In Singapore, I'm squashed by the stress.
In India, I'd be squashed by the crowds.

In Singapore, they speak four languages.
But in India they speak my language.

Singapore is clean.
But India's real neat too.

So I discussed my dilemma with my sister. She said she had the perfect solution for me.

"Come to the US."

"But why?"

"I'm here, that's why."

She had a good point. But I do not know yet where I will live. Things have changed. The way I feel and think has changed. I do not have that 'Of-course-I'll-go-back-to-India-where-else?' feeling anymore. Suddenly there are too many choices. Too many factors that come to play. Practicality, logic, numbers, ambition, desires, convenience. Emotions.

They say that the difference between 'staying at a place' and 'living in a place' is that while the former refers to a temporary arrangement, the latter indicates permanence.

Perhaps things have changed. Perhaps I don't need to pick a place to live in, anymore. I can stay where I am, and a few years later, I can stay somewhere else. Perhaps we don't live in a world where have to live in a place anymore. We just go around the world and stay at places we like, till we're ready to move on to the next place.

And perhaps that's the real reason why the earth is round. So that you can go around it, see all of it, and one fine day, if you wake up and you feel that you're ready to live in a place, you know exactly where to go.