It has been interesting to learn about scale while here in India.
Here, scale is all off from our normal expectations. We live in a crowded nation. There are people *everywhere*. On the other hand, we are part of a small community of NRIs (non-resident Indians, a category for those who have spent substantial time in places like the US and UK) and expats who form our social network. So, we are currently dealing with a huge number of people and also a very small number of people. Then, there is the America community in Hyderabad which is an even smaller category, although most of the NRIs are Americans.
Then, I contrast this with how well-connected Tara and I have become with people that we haven't heard from in decades through FaceBook. It's great to be reconnected in this way. And more people from my high school and college live in Charlotte than I ever knew. Funny, I had no idea they were there when I lived there!
Additionally, I have noticed that wherever I go, there is always a follow on conversation with someone who has a connection to that place, or has lived there, or has family there. As I think I have mentioned in other blog posts, there is a rule of thumb that whenever one goes into a church and strikes up a conversation, there is always a connection to Charlotte. Always. It has happened three time here in India.
Last week I found out that a family friend here in Hyderabad is from W. Hartford, Ct. and she grew up with a girl I swam with in college in Ohio.
So, it really is a small world, after all. This lesson was acquired in the US, but it has been reinforced in India, of all places.
Even here on the other side of the globe, we see this. Our friend John has a connection with our other friend Jo in that he worked with Jo's mother back in the UK. John and Jo didn't know each other back in the UK. And Jo and her husband Matt moved to Hyderabad from Connecticut where they enjoyed shopping at Stew Leonard's and sent their children to school in my hometown of Westport.
Our friends Krishnan and Indu are from Charlotte, but we met them here.
So, sticking with this theme, there is a small college in Vermont called Middlebury. My parents live about 35 minutes south of the college. My brother Dick went to Middlebury College, as did his wife Lynelle. So did Lynelle's parents. My friends Jackie and Siobhan have brothers that went there, as well. My fraternity brother Doug's sister went to this same school. My friend Letitia dated a guy there and randomly met my brother in a social setting. One of Liam's camp counselors, Donnie, also goes to Middlebury College. And this list goes on and on. So, there are connections to that great little town and school. Middlebury has even been depicted in this blog during our summer visit back to the US.
As I sat alone in the Foreigners Registration Office in Hyderabad one day in November, a young girl sat next to me. I could tell she was American, and I struck up conversation with her. She was a student from Middlebury living in Hyderabad for a semester, finishing up her time here. She was from San Jose, south of San Francisco, California. We discussed Middlebury and the things there that we both knew and enjoyed. She knows the Route 30 that you can take into Middlebury, and I explained that my family lives on that road on Lake Bomoseen.
Now that I am forty, I have to remind myself that I can no longer do the "Did you know so and so" with a college-age person. During our conversation, I did some quick math and realized that this young lady was probably just learning to walk when I graduated from college. So, I restrained from trying to make a direct connection during our conversation.
It really is amazing when you see the connections we all have, where even in a place like India you find linkages.
When we were in Dubai, most of our taxi drivers were from Hyderabad. One of them comes from Raidurga, the section of the city that is connected to our current neighborhood. As I said to him in Hindi after we made that connection, "Duniya chhoti hai!" The world is small.....
Fascinating.....
