As 2018 winds down and the internet gets flooded with 'lists', one is compelled to look back at the year gone by. It was a pretty massive year for me. I moved from India's most livable city Pune to the world's most livable city Vienna, Austria. While I have no doubt that Pune is indeed one of the best cities in India it's too early for me to make any judgement about Vienna. It would also be unfair to judge Vienna during the cold grey winter though the city does a lot to distract you from the depressing weather with its Christmas markets, decorations and the wonderful Glühwein.
My first time living away from Pune or India was challenging right from the time of gathering documents for the Residence Permit application till the 7 month long wait for its approval. However, rather than writing about the bureaucracy of India and Austria, I would like to dwell on and thank my real Christkindel and Santa Clauses. My parents, in-laws, friends and other relatives did everything they could to make the move and transition possible. Right from financial assistance, packing, farewell parties, wonderful gifts to brown cardboard boxes filled with goodies. They have done as much as one can do when you're separated by an ocean and 4.5 hours of time difference. But we've been lucky to have met many wonderful people in Austria who have helped in filling this void.
Martina & Minou - Our local guardians who were there for us right from the time that we landed in Austria. In fact, much before that. Minou is my wife's friend from the UK whose mother Martina lives in Austria. Martina gave us an informal residence contract for our residence permit application without ever speaking with us. Minou came all the way to the airport to pick us and our 6 bags from the airport. They gave us a wonderfully comfortable room in their house and told us multiple times that we're welcome to stay as long as we want. Minou also helped us to complete the formalities with the government. Heck, we even got a very good apartment in Vienna thanks to them! Apart from all this priceless help, the most important part was living with them for the initial three weeks helped us immensely in coping with the fact that we're away from the support system of family and friends back home.
Jakob, Mathais & Ines - It's tough to make friends once you get to a certain age. It's even tougher in a completely new country where you don't speak the language. Wittgenstein once said "The limits of our language are the limits of our world". Out first new friendship in Vienna was spawned when Jakob overheard my wife talking about practicing her German and offered to help us practice our German with him and his friends. In the dark age of Brexit, Trump's wall and right-wing majoritarianism this act of kindness just bowled me over. Also got me thinking if I would ever do that if I hear someone talking about wanting to improve Marathi in Pune/India.
I hope to meet more such wonderful people in 2019 and to pay forward the kindness that I've got from them. Happy New Year!
