Have you got something to say?

I love telling people stories, making them laugh and talk to them about the experiences I have had but I never thought about writing them down and look back at them and maybe see them through a different perspective. A friend of mine recommended that I should try this so here I am. I hope this is something I can look back to and help myself change things that I want to change, figure out and keep doing things that bring me joy and stop things that block me from moving forward. And who knows? Maybe whatever I talk about over here will make you feel like you are not alone, just like I wouldn’t want to feel alone.

Hi, I am Tushar. I am 21 years old and I have been in Romania for almost 7 years. Originally I’m from a small town in Mumbai, India where I lived for 9 years and then moved to Pune, a few hours away from Mumbai, where I lived till I was 15. We moved to Romania when I was 15 and it was pretty difficult especially because of being on the different side of the world in a completely different culture. I had already moved once when I was 9 and had to make new friends, get familiar to the city, go through middle school:) and just when I was getting comfortable, we moved again and this time to a different continent. How did we end up in Romania? My dad moved to Romania 2 years after his marriage to my mom, in 1994, for work and help sustain the family and he would visit us once every few years ( That’s how I was born in 2000:) ) and after he started his own business in 2006, we were able to visit him here a few times until mom and I decided to move here permanently.

I loved visiting my dad here but we hadn’t really spent a lot of time together before. I have a really bad memory when it comes to personal stuff and because of that maybe, the first memory I have of my dad is seeing him at the airport when I came to Romania for the first time in 2008 when I was eight. And I did not even recognize him until mom hugged him. Until then, the only thing I remember and knew about my dad was through pictures and when he called us and he looked completely different from his pictures. Since out of 15 years of my life, we had spent only a few months together, it was pretty difficult living with him, it still can be:) And making new friends and exploring the city was even more difficult since I did not know the language.

My life in India and everything that I have experienced here, in Romania, have been pretty different that normal and sometimes I feel lost in my identity, the things I do, why I do the things I do and how did I end up the way I am right now. I am continuously growing as a person and think that I have a lot to say. So this is the beginning of my story.

All stories are worth being told.

So, have you got something to say?