When I first moved here, one of the hardest things was making friends. We were renting an apartment, in one of the more upscale buildings. I would take my kids down so that they could play with the other kids. They would ask if they could play with them, and the building kids would say “no”! I was quite surprised when I first heard that. So the next few days, I tried to help them out, and would ask other kids myself if it was ok for my kids to play with them. They would shrug their shoulders, and then completely ignore my kids. I was quite amazed as to how snobbish and rude these little kids could be.
And it just wasn’t the kids. In my first week here, I saw three women my age taking a walk together. I introduced myself, and asked if I could join them. They said sure, and so I walked with them for the next 45 minutes. All that time, they completely ignored me, with the exception of some small talk that I attempted. The next day, I went down again when I saw them taking a walk. I was completely stunned, when they just ignored my “hi” and just strode past me rather rudely.
I would meet people in the elevators or the parking lot, who I would smile at and say hello….and they would look at me as though I’ve come from Mars. It was really really hard. I would feel, that here in my own country it’s so difficult to make friends. And when I was in the US, in spite of my obviously being a foreigner, I was welcomed warmly by neighbours and strangers and found no difficulty in making friends.
It sure took a very long time to make friends, but now two years later I can finally call Pune my home.
Tags: Friends, Moving to India, Relocation
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[...] I missed my home in the U.S., I missed my friends. I still hadn’t made many friends here. Making friends was very difficult (read my other article on this topic). I still resented having maids. I [...]
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