About a year back, my friend shifted his base to Chennai with his family from Bangalore due to family reasons. He was born and brought up in Bangalore, its culture, language and people. As a child, he never bothered to learn his mother tongue, Tamil, and was fluent in Kannada as he thought that his life was in Bangalore and he will be staying here forever. He had his share of friends who were close to him. He at the end learnt Tamil by the force of his mother but the language turned out to be a mixture of both Tamil and Kannada.

As he finished his high school, his parents asked him to pack his bags as they were leaving to Chennai for work. He usually thought that it was for a holiday as his extended family stayed in the city. But, he eventually realized that it was a permanent change in his life. He knew that he had to leave this city, his friends, his comfort and his happiness behind.

He reached Chennai; his family settled in a new home and got his admission done in a well reputed college for under graduation. He was happy that he was in a big and reputed college yet he was uncomfortable with the people and language around him. It was his first day at college that he knew what the real change was.  He says, “The first day was hectic. I had to catch 3 buses to go. I asked directions and half the words I spoke weren’t understood by them. People laughed at my language”.  He made new friends in the new city, none of them Kannadigas. He missed the essence of Bangalore and its people. Once in a phone call he said, “I just miss the way all of us used to sit in the playground, the breeze and the silence. It’s so crowed here, people don’t even have time for each other. The only place I find peace like the playground is the beach”.

As time went, he corrected his diction of Tamil and in every phone call he did, his diction changed, in few months, he changed. A man, who used to say that he never liked Chennai, now was praising the city for its culture and its people. A person who said would miss his old friends had now made new friends;  he made sure that he interacted with new people and now is working with them on short movies comfortably. When asked about the change in him, he said, “I am a fighter. I need to get used to this city now. I cannot cry every day that Bangalore is better. I would actually thank this city for helping me break the nutshell I was in. I started meeting new people and this helped me grow individually and know different thought processes. It will take its time, but, I would have to struggle if I am in Bangalore or Chennai”.  Recently when he visited Bangalore, he said, “It still feels the same. Maybe I have made new friends in Chennai, but, Bangalore still brings out me and reminds me of my childhood. Now I feel that any city I go, I will be happy. Happiness lies within. If you accept the present, you will always be happy wherever you go”.

It’s true. Happiness lies in you. Just like my friend, if people believe they are fighters, they can fight any situation and overcome it. Everything has its own struggles to go through, it takes time, and it takes courage. Everything is upon you to decide to fight or flight. Life will not wait for anyone, you need to buck up and move ahead as fast as possible to make your dreams come true.