Asha’s story – final summary
It’s been over a month since Asha left the UK. All of our friends are asking about the impact of her visit on us and on her so here it is in few points.
- Great adventure – it was really fun to have Asha around and show her all the people and places important to us. We traveled more in that month than in the entire year, I think and met up with most of our friends which is always a nice feeling. It feels as if it was us who was on holidays really. We did new things. Ate new meals (a lot of new Indian food, for example) and prepared new meals too.
- Connections – We have developed stronger connections with similarly minded people. When you live surrounded by friends and know a lot of people in a small town, connections become part of a routine and daily reality. But when a visitor like Asha “disrupts” this routine with unique specific demands, connections with similarly people become suddenly intensified. I think Asha brought up the best of all of us and it was a lovely month to all of us.
- Hope – the meaning of her name, actually. I think in the current political climate we all needed Asha with her courage to conquer the world. When I watched her taking deep breaths at the seaside on her first day on a beach ever, I saw a young woman full of hope, dreams, courage and I thought to myself: we all have it in us – despite all the stupid politics, we will be courageous, happy, foolishly heading towards our dreams and one day we will also discover new horizons, just like her. Or maybe we are doing it already, every single day…
- Redefining reality – small, simple things like air conditioning in the car or ability to choose food for dinner were so new to Asha that we had to redefine our reality a bit. We take so much for granted! We discovered the little pleasures of life again and I am sure those little reminders will be here to stay. We are more grounded in our home, garden, town, and country now. More here and now.
- Treasuring the universal – people worried about Asha, we also worried if we are doing enough to make her stay here effective for her studies but at the end of the day we danced, joked, ate, traveled, had fun together. Despite all the differences and a huge reality shock Asha was for that month part of our family and so on the last morning, at the airport, she ran back from the gate and gave her a hug through happy tears.
We will miss her terribly but I hope that in this connected world we can stay in touch! I also hope that one day we will visit her in her village and get to see her reality to.