Engagement

Since I have moved to the US and gradually matured, the conversations between me and my parents have evolved in their own way. Often times, my mother would ask me, “When are you finishing up and coming back home?” I would never have an answer to please her. And when I would ask her “Why don’t you come and stay here for a while?”. Her usual response would be, “What will we do there alone at home all day? We don’t have any engagement.”

A few days ago I rode with a jolly old man who welcomed me into his car. The app on his phone displayed Chinese characters and the navigation lady was fluently speaking – possibly in Mandarin. I started talking to him and he struggled to comprehend and respond in English. It was clear that he’s not fluent in English. But I persisted and listened to him intently. Having emigrated from China 4 years ago, he said he has been driving around people in his cab for 1 year now. “Do you work at Google?” he asked me. I was confused. Then he proceeded to show me that my destination was close to the Google campus in Mountain View. I replied that I don’t.

On asking, he told me that he’s from a place close to Beijing in China and he moved here to San Jose with his wife close to his daughter. It was quite intriguing to see such an elderly immigrant, having stayed in this country for such a short period of time, making his own living driving around people in a new country.

He would have guessed by now that I hail from India and when I told him that he remarked with glowing eyes, “I love Indian music and movies.”. Shortly after, we reached our destination and I got off. I was left thinking – this person has found his own engagement in a new place among new people. What do you think your engagement is? Your work? It’s very likely that you’ll end up working somewhere else in a few years doing something different – something which your employer asks you to. That’s quite difficult to own up as one’s engagement. Your vacations? How soon after you get back from a vacation that you feel like going away on another? Is there something you gravitate towards when you wake up late on a Sunday and have the whole day to yourself? Something that engages your mind so much that hours feel like minutes and you end up feeling fulfilled at the end of the day?

Something which you plan to do when you are alone at home all day?