Penned after Nov 6, 2016, as I sat on my sofa day in and day out…
Now that I have ample time on my hands, it would be best to make a memoir of my free time without a job, but with my right foot in an Aircast and only my thoughts or the TV news and shows in North America. I began to write a few days ago when my foot was still in its normal version of being! And, since I was still mobile (I am even now, as promised to the world around me, but excruciatingly slow and painstakingly bumpy), I fell out of inspiration to write anymore.
Well, I am back today. I feel as if I am in full force at least at this moment. So, instead of continuing my journey of writing and going further on what I started to pen down (or bang away really, on my keyboard) a few days back, I think I will put down my thoughts and experiences of my stay in Calgary this time around. Why? Because it has been quite momentous in many ways!
First, I came here in June to attend a conference in Atlanta in the States and after a few days, fly back to my mama in India. But as it happened, one day after I arrived in Calgary, I received an e-mail from my university that they want to speak with me the next day. I knew it! I knew that the axe was falling on me as it had been falling on many of my colleagues over the months. Yes, that is what happened- as of 3 weeks from then, I was to be work-free! That was one big event of my stay.
Next, I enjoyed a few weeks of Atlanta hopping (all my expenses would be paid for the conference by my university; God bless them!) and my new- found freedom during which one of my off-springs bought us a great holiday in Vegas. Unfortunately, the story in Vegas must wait for a bit until I have literally spilled all the beans of my visit. Then, I started to look for online jobs, thinking they would be easy to find and I would return to Kolkata to be with my mom and work on one or two small online teaching jobs. But that proved to be tough! Meanwhile, my mommy informed me that she did not want me to return as there were many cases of Dengue being discovered in Kolkata and I could easily catch the infection since I was protected by a powerless Canadian immunity now (chuckle!). That was followed by the diagnosis of another 2 -3 types of illnesses in Kolkata and rest of India due to the sultry hot weather. So, what did I do here? Sent out my CV and cover letter galore – you name it and I sent them. No job yet!
Okay it wasn’t so blah all the time! It was dandy actually! My fam took a quick trip to Banff, I invited my friends over for a dinner, and I met friends one after another for lunches and dinners. I went for photo-shoot to a renowned New York style photographer (courtesy, my daughter) and to the club with my friends (courtesy my daughter) while I plugged away also at the gym, taking care of the other aspects of my being.
The situation in India, primarily in Kolkata, was still very grave with Dengue, Chikungunya (I had not even heard of the latter mosquito borne infection before September 2016) and Foot, mouth and hands disease. So, I was banned from returning to Kolkata by my indomitable mom once again. Well, I do understand her sentiments and caution! But, do you know how many times I booked my flight and ignored my booking or changed them or cancelled them without buying the tickets? Perhaps about 15 times from June to November! My son proclaimed that had he been my travel agent, he would have blacklisted me!
The final doozy came when I planned to have these special prayers in the house for the happiness, health, success, and contentment of the family. I postponed it once because it seemed that my children where going to be all over the place and would be available that day but would have been very exhausted anyway. And since I was not flying back to India very soon any more (remember the 3 kinds of infection scenarios in Kolkata?), I postponed the date for the prayers by a week. Well, that is when this doozy happened.
I broke the 5th metatarsal of my right foot… Yes, yes, you have read the ‘chronicles’ in my previous blogs. I will spare you the agony of perusing the details once again; no worries!
Ta da until next time!
