By Chance

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I got my current job in March, 2007. I was applying a few companies abroad, mainly in India at the moment.

I luckily got an opportunity of job interview. There was a problem; I could hardly speak English. So I asked an English teacher to create a common Q&A list for English job interview and put the paper on the wall. When I got a call from my future boss, I repeated his questions changing the subject from “you” to “I” in order to make a little time to find my answers on the wall.

I came to India only after a few weeks from the job interview. I was wondering why I have passed the interview, and after all, simply understood there weren’t many job candidates at that time. Now there is more Japanese staff in the company, and the hurdle to be hired is getting higher and higher. If it was now, it was a physical interview, or there were other better candidates, I wasn’t here.

I am not a spiritual person so much. But I sometimes use this phrase, “called by India.” Among the foreigners, there is a too common question; “Why India?” People exchange this question every time when a new staff joins. For people who decided to come to India, it’s interesting to know others’ answer of this question. I have an answer, but the answer is just one of the possibilities. I am not telling a lie, but I say to myself, “It may be not all, but I don’t know the complete answer, exactly.” I believe other people don’t know, too. So I say “OK, you must have been called, too.” Reasons are not always necessary.

I guess understanding why you are called may be a little more important. The characters of Haruki Murakami’s novels would say, “We are not selecting anything in our life.” I agree. I am passive to my life, even when I believe I am selecting by myself. Who I am selects where I go unconsciously. That’s how I left Japan. That’s how you love someone beyond arm reach, or spends all your money for an uncertain business. You cannot decide, but your nature decides where to take you. I have been feeling how powerful this something inside me is, and which never listen to my words. Inside, there may be no difference between chances and decisions.

The House Lizard of My Bombay Flat

The first city is the best city. Bombay is being my best city. Although I only lived two cities in my life, I just know it, like how you know your wife is your best without testing out other girls.

Some people prefer a life of traveling; seek the best in a lot of choices. I am not that kind of person. I am a Shepard more than a Traveler. If something grabs my heart and I love it, I just want to stay to watch and understand every little thing. Now everywhere I travel, I miss Bombay and feel like coming back soon, even on a short trip to Japanese home.

Bombay is not the cleanest place in the world, actually could be one of the worst. One of my friends who traveled a lot says Bombay is the dirtiest place. We can say it’s because Bombay is a big city, but even we keep the fact aside, it’s dirtier and inconvenient than other big cities. Water and electricity supply is short. Guys spit, pee, or throw garbage everywhere they want (of course not all guys). While you are eating in an open air restaurant, you can see a few big rats are running into a corner.

When you get out from the city to somewhere nice, like Kerala or Goa, you would be surprised how beautiful this world was. Green woods, coconut trees, clean air, the blue sky without smog, and clear water in rivers. People seem happier and are calm, living slowly. You can eat coconut curry and spend time on the shore, a clean shore without garbage.

But all the time when I take a time off from Bombay life, a part of me always wonder why I miss the city so much and want to go back. Could be because of the better service in restaurants, more choices of shopping, or I don’t know. I wonder. I conclude it’s the house lizard in my flat room, which makes me feel to go back home.

So, I am in love with the house lizard of my Bombay flat, and live my choti-choti life. My family and friends ask how long I am going stay here, and I always say “Just a little more.”