Stories from a Life: A Memoir - Article Example

? Stories from a Life: A Memoir Life is a journey through odd and even, through bizarre and convictions, through customs and conventions. And amid all these facets that come on our way, we get to discover ourselves, our mission to sustain in this world and enjoy all the best possible assets featured and rendered by earth upon us. Life as I see on a pensive mood through the glittering rays across my black-glassed window, the warmth I feel when the first rays of summer sun touch my feet, as I lay back on my arm chair and recollect the by-gone days of my life appears to me as a collage of many colorful pictures hanged on a notice board that allures every mind passing by. Like a small brook that twirls round the pebbles and curves around rocks making its way through the woods, I started my journey from a small town in China. At a very tender age, I came to Houston in the United States because my dad and my mom had a big dream for me. When the world gets allured by the concept of ‘American Dream’, my father had made his mind to make me a part of this great paradigm. When I stepped out of my tinsel town, I hardly had an idea what life was actually having for me in store. With great expectations in my heart and flickering dream in the eyes, I started my journey. Hardly did I know the challenges waiting on my way when holding the hands of my dad; I first boarded the plane for the United States of America. Yes, the United States of America is a big name for the people like me who keep many things at stake and undertake so many hardships to achieve their dream in a fantasy world like that of the USA. On my eighth birthday, Uncle Wong, gave me a book bearing the title “Alice in Wonderland”. After navigating through the pages of this book, I had already set a world of fantasy for myself. Uncle Wong did give me another such treasure on my tenth birthday, a book that contained stories of all the heroes from the ancient world. I did come across the name Ulysses for the first time through the book presented to me by Uncle Wong. Uncle Wong was my neighbor in China and for these two books he gifted to me, I will never forget Uncle Wong in my life. To seek the new, to explore the unexplored and to see the unseen, spirited my mind, body and soul at a very tender age. And when I first came to the USA, this zeal did help me a lot to cope among all odds of life which America presented to me all these years. Life is like a half-filled glass to me. If it is half–empty then the other half is full as well. America gave me so many things as well. It gave me strength, courage, wisdom, insight and most important of all, it gave me friends. And of course a few of them are relations that I shall cherish for my entire life. When I got admission to the High School in Houston, it was like starting a fresh like my first step at kindergarten. The only difference this time was while stepping inside the gate of the school when I turned back, I found no body waving hands for me or wishing me luck. At the gate of my new school at Houston, I was standing at a new juncture in my life. When I turned back there were faces unknown and when I looked in front, there were faces unknown too. However, those faces had some kind of warmth that helped me to embrace the unknown. My first day at school in Houston was difficult, but not boring. For the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to taste freedom. Out of the protective cocoon of my family life, I learnt everything own my own. Learning does consist of unlearning the past. Eventually and at a very fast pace, I discovered that everything here at the United States was very much different from my native land. The food, culture, and lifestyle everything was completely different from my town, where I grew up. Yet, running down the streets of this great city, I did found my locale one day. It’s true that great cities across the world captivate miniature fragments of world scattered across the skyline of the city. And here in America, it evolves out to the truest sense of the words. One day with few of my Chinese friends at school, I headed State Highway 6 to reach, Chinatown at Houston situated roughly in the south-western part of the city. After coming to America, the thing I missed most was authentic Chinese cuisine. As a kid, I used to like my mom cooking Dim sum a lot. Dim sum means “touch your heart”. Home cooked food has a flavor of its own that not only touches your heart but also takes the possession of your mind, body and soul completely. Still at a small Chinese restaurant of Chinatown, I rediscovered the forgotten taste of authentic Chinese food. To my astonishment, the food here also contained the flavor of my home-cooked Dim sum. And today after spending almost five years of my life away from my home, my people. Whenever I feel very lonely, dejected or I get nostalgic, I visit Chinatown. The people, food and the ambience never make me feel that I am away from my home. They say that a plant cannot live longer if it is uprooted. Quite true like a plant, a human cannot sustain longer forgetting his own culture, his own identity and customs. This I understood very precisely after stepping into the United States of America. The love for my nation, people, custom, food and language has attracted me to visit Chinatown at least one in a fortnight all these years. Today, I have a small world very close to my native place here in Houston. I have come across many people here, made friends and relations which are far more important to me at this point of my life than by blood relations as well. Aunty Lee who serves me the Chinese platter at her small motel in Chinatown or uncle Zing who drives cab here are no one from my family. Yet, we all are entwined with same lineage of Diasporas which pushed us away from our sweet home to a world where every eye has a flickering dream and every heart beats faster to seek fortune. Ulysses for his lust of wandering became my hero since childhood. There is hardly any piece of writing that contains stories of Ulysses and his adventures which has escaped my eyes since then. Lord Alfred Tennyson in his epoch making poem, ‘Ulysses’ ends with the following lines: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”. These lines became my motto in life. I wanted to see this world. Its myriad flora, fauna, culture and demography allured my mind a lot. Like wanderlust, I took up travelling as my hobby. My trip to Mexico has endless memories. Trip to Mexico was full of fun. New culture, new people and new food were obviously there to explore. It not only satisfied my mind and soul but few encounters with people and places widened my vision and deepened my insights towards life. The Pyramids of Teotihuacan took me to a ride in the pre-historic era on one hand, and on the other hand the natural diversity of the country mesmerized me (Mexico Tourism Board, 2012). Nature with all its beauty and bounty could be so alluring was beyond my mundane comprehension. Ride through Sonora Desert was the most exuberant spectacle for me. I have seen cold desert back at my home, I had seen tropical forest and deep blue ocean. Nevertheless, the panorama which the dry weather, sand dunes and sunlight build in the Senora desert is a sight to cherish. The uniqueness of the culture with a pertinent hue of the colonial hangover gives a different flavor altogether. We travel and captivate the memories of our trip through photograph. We miss those places and whenever we miss them, we always have that leisure to turn the pages of the album and take a ride through the memory lane. However, what about the people we miss, as a matter of fact we miss people mostly and not the places. My meeting with a small boy named Santiago during my trip in Mexico will always make me nostalgic. Santiago was yellow faced boy around the age of fifteen or sixteen. But his experience of life was so diverse that his perception towards life was that of a middle–aged man. I have also travelled many cities in the United States. Most of them are major cities of America. And if I consider the route map of my itinerary then it seems that southern part of the continent has already been covered by my extensive travelling. Shortly after my trip to Mexico, I went to Washington and then to New York with my school excursion team. These two cities taught me the actual meaning of American Dream. It helped me for the first time to get entwined with the dream and desire for a better life and better world woven across the pillars of liberty, equality and fraternity that the United States has for the rest of the world. For the first time after leaving home, I understood the humility and space which the country provides for millions like me and with the spectacle of setting sun across the high-rises of New York City, I promised to myself that I would not search for a home away from home now onwards. I said to myself, and prayed to my god to give me enough strength and courage to fight against all the odds which the city, the new way of life offers to me and make them even. After my rigorous trip across the country, I understood it clearly that life is all about balance. And if I wish to achieve something better in life, I would require a perfect balance, a complete harmony between my personal and professional life. Since my childhood, I always took interest in swimming. After my shift to Houston, I forgot to play with water. I was so busy in adapting the ways and fighting back to unlearn my native conventions that it kept me busy for idle philosophies throughout and did not yield such positive productivity from my end. After my extensive travelling across the country, I found I was quite disturbed because I wanted to make my way of life perfect. I understood gradually that there is nothing called a perfect state. And one really does not need to change his entire way of life to get himself adapted to a new place. I met a friend, his name was Nick. He used to attend class with me. He was the first one to introduce me with the swimming club at the school. Nick like me, also believed that playing with water can be actually de-stressing. After my classes throughout the entire summer, I started spending time at the pool. Gradually, the coach over there picked me up for the school swimming team and I got the chance to compete in the inter-school tournament. Representing the school was not so easy, it always has an extra burden, when entire school looks upon you and you need to perform. I was selected for the team, but I was out of practice for a long time. Standing at the pool, when I looked into the water I could only see the track lying beneath. Suddenly, the world around me turned mute, students in the balcony, delegates and teachers, my friends waving flags and cheering me, everything seemed to me a complete mute phenomenon. With the clasping of the wooden slab that made a thud sound on my heart directly pushed me into the water. After that I went complete numb, the only thing which kept me going was a dream and a desire to stand wearing the slash of my school on the victory stand. A dream often dreamt with open eyes does not materialize, but I was lucky enough to see my dreams turning to reality. I stood third in the inter-school swimming competition. With my head held high, I stood on the victory stand and I could see the smiling face of my coach and team-mates cheering my name aloud. At that point of time, representing and winning a trophy for my school was the most important thing in my life. Moreover, I was able to cross all the parochial inhibitions and narrow boundaries finally. I evolved as a world citizen, proud to make happy everyone around. This victory gave me immense confidence and I was able to find myself in a new avatar. I no more search my native people now. I gained the power and sensibility to make the unknown faces known and come out of the cluster effacing the borders and crossing the boundaries which kept me isolated all these days. I could feel the change in me. I inculcated so much affinity towards the people over here that it helped me make my home here in Houston away from my original home. I soon developed a change in me, winter was over and it was spring in the air! New leaves, new buds, birds chirping their melodious tunes all made me happier. I started meeting more and more people in neighborhood. At the same time, I did not miss a single Sunday mass at the local church since then. I did this deliberately to know my neighborhood more precisely. I started taking interest in jazz and blues and the food, carnivals and dance of America started fascinating me. Amid all these new phenomena occurring in my life, I became friends with Nina, Rita, Kelvin and many others. Most of them are natives and also there were faces who appear bizarre and I know they are like me first time away from their home. I gradually started taking keen interest in basketball. It is an amazing game; it involves rigorous physical and mental exercise at the same plane. At the same time, it develops team spirit and enhances the imbibed eternal spirit to fight and pass through amid all odds and defying situations. And today after so many hardships and ups and downs , when I look back I find my life as a bird set free in the open sky, who definitely needs to swap through the guts of wind to take a proper plight but soaring higher and higher, she can look beneath to see the myriad colors of life called world. I am happy and independent; I have tasted so many things, seen so many places and most importantly met with so many people. I have made mistakes, taken wrong decisions but I have learnt many things out of those mistakes and today when I look back, I see my life as a small boat navigating through the mighty ocean, rowing against the gigantic waves, but share the same space with huge cruises as well. Today, I know what I am and what I will be and I am proud that I am god’s one of the most beautiful and intelligent creations. Reference Mexico Tourism Board. (2012). Visit Mexico. Received from http://www.visitmexico.com/en/ Bibliography Lara, A. (2013). You know you're a writer when. 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