Woman in Foreign Land

Hi Girls,

In our earlier inspiring blog post, we read about Neha who used to feel inferior due her height, but later on she evolved as a strong woman... Now, let us see about a woman who has survived in a foreign land without having the basic knowledge about it’s ethnicity...

In her words.....

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 I am Prajna, an engineering graduate who actually wanted to take up fashion designing as a career. Though my parents were against early marriage and NRI matches, I got married during the final year of B.Tech to an NRI who stays in Swiss. After completing my Studies I went to my husband's place.

 The first month passed beautifully. Later, I was bored to stay alone, so we called my mother in law. My pregnancy is confirmed within a week of my mother-in-law's arrival. I was not ready for the pregnancy because of two reasons, first is I do not want to become pregnant at the age of 21 and the other is, I have zero knowledge about locality and medical facilities available here. Though I was not ready, my husband’s support helped me during pregnancy. People in Swiss do not speak English so it became tough for me to communicate with others, especially with Doctors.

 When in India, my parents never involved me in any household work as I was a student.. During my pregnancy, my husband used to take care of everything and my parents came here for 3 months. So I never got any chance of doing any household chores. After my Parents left back to India, I got to know the pressure of handling home. I learned recipes from the Internet and it helped me in cooking. Now I can cook many varieties of food and I became proficient in household chores too. I started going out with a neighbor who can understand and speak English.

 We have joined my kid in a playgroup. As teachers do not speak English, it troubled me a lot and pushed me into learning German. I was a girl who couldn't grasp any other language from my childhood except my mother tongue. So Initially I doubted if I could learn a foreign language. With many queries in my mind, I downloaded a German app and started learning German daily. Later I joined in German Course, consecutively I worked on English grammar as it helps in learning German grammar. Even now I can't speak German fluently as it is been just 3 months I started learning it, I could manage in my girl's play group, supermarkets and with others in my locality.

  If I had been only in India I wouldn't have got the chance to learn these many things. In these 4 years of my marriage, I came to know how much my mother sacrificed for us. I have learned to deal with many problems and also understood the value of relations.

Now when I go to India, people say I have changed a lot as a person. I owe this change to my daughter. "Swiss" taught me many things, it made me understand people's perspectives and their cultures. It made me strong, independent and a good person. People here taught me, not to judge others. I was a narrow-minded person in college but after coming here I became an outgoing and sociable person. I have faced many hardships here, due to which sometimes I used to feel like going back to India. Now I have strength to manage any kind of situations in any country.

 I learned to do makeup just by watching YouTube videos and experimenting with different makeup products available here. Initially, I failed and people discouraged me, but I didn't give up. Now, I became an expert in doing makeup. In a year or two, I am thinking of giving a try in fashion technology course :)

I want to convey to the people, who are feeling alone/depressed in a foreign land is "see everything in a positive way... you have enjoyed life in your motherland. Now, try to explore a different country. No matter how good the other country is, we always feel safe and secured in our country. Leaving the motherland will be like a separation of the child from a mother, but this feeling will get vanished within few years. Initial couple of years here was like a hell, but now I don't see in that way. Now I am seeing this country as a different world which should be explored. Whenever any festival come, I make our traditional food items (Pindi Vantalu) and serve to the people here.. We should make people understand our culture, festivals, food and we should get familiar with their culture, food and festivals.. In this way, I feel we will have a broad way of thinking which leads to a happy life."

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Blogger Note:

So Guys, that is Prajna for us... If you wish to contribute, get in touch with me here.