Traveling to India

At the age of 8, I convinced myself that I am vegetarian and yogi. This happened after we had our religious lessons at school, where we explored Buddhism and Hinduism. 

Growing up in a very conservative society you can imagine my mother’s shock; when she entered the room and seeing me on the floor as a yogi. We were grown up as Christians, therefore it was little bit shocking for her , to change my religion at the age of 8. Well, I was quite an interesting person from the day I was born, some others would say weird.

So, one of my biggest dreams was to visit India, as it was the mother of Yoga and Hinduism. There was always a connection of myself with this culture, that I could never be able to explain the reason.

In February 2019, along with my business team we visited India! Our team was BLS Global, a company in media & publications and we had organized the Global Investment Immigration Summit in Ahmedabad and Surat. It was a very tiring trip but it was worth every moment. You know what they say, it doesn’t matter where you travel to but who you are travelling with that makes all the difference. Well, I confirm this phrase.

The team was great, full of energy and smiles. Maeedeh, Muzzambil and Usman were very patient with me I must say. You see I am vegan and don’t eat spicy food; which makes things a little bit more challenging. In India, the majority of the people were vegetarian but not vegan. So, it was difficult for them to understand the difference, especially with the language barrier.

The amazing thing though was their support and effort to understand and fulfil my nutritional needs’. It was the first time in my life to have met such hospitable people, there sincere hospitality wouldn't even allow them to accept tips! Coming from New York, this was shocking right? One of the highlights was when we were having dinner and I told the guys that we were having dinner, who was Maeedeh, Muzambill,Uzman and Sam; that my birthday is on April and I would like to celebrate in India.

Then a few minutes later the waiter came along with a cake and suddenly all of them were singing happy birthday to me playing on a song I like. Loved the song by the way. I felt so special and so much love from all of them. I will never forget this pre-birthday party.

When we had a deadline and we needed to finalize something for the next day, I started feeling hungry and the guys with my good friend Maedeh started to feel stressed not from the deadline but from my anger when I am hungry. Honestly, I am like a child, I need my food! I was waiting for my food for 40minutes and when the food was brought to my table it was the wrong dish !Dal food with CHICKEN! In that moment I was ready to kill the chef. Then, a few minutes later, the whole team was eating my food! Please note that they didn’t even order food as they were not hungry!

On the last day as we were leaving the hotel the chef prepared vegan cookies just for me! The team was thankful as I would have had enough food supply for the 5hour journey from Surat to Mumbai! My sister said to me, I think he was glad that you were leaving! :)hahaha

The event by the way, went so well, much better than our expectations! We have a great team in London & India. Sam is the MD of BLS Global and he was great. He is restless, supportive and a motivator. We were all one, the team, our sponsors and the delegates. It was an amazing experience and I cant’ wait to see them again on the 21st of September in Bangalore.

In Mumbai after 5 hours drive from Surat, we stopped and guess what there was nothing for me to eat! So, I had no choice to only have mac’Donald’s fries. You should see their faces, when I said that there is no food for me! God now that I am thinking of it, I feel sorry for them.

The highlight was when Maeedeh asked me “ Babe do you have your vegan cookies in case you get hungry?” and I replied “Yes, but there is only one left, and we still have few hours..” She was panicking haha.

This trip to India, was an educational experience. I had dreamt of the Indian culture from the age of 8 and this trip made my dream turn into a reality. This trip brought me closer to the Indian culture and gave me the opportunity to meet people who I didn’t know well. Now these people have become my good friends. I received love and gave love to people that I met for the first time. We all exceeded our expectations at work and filled us with more confidence.

Yes, I might need two days to recover but you know what? It was worth every moment. I feel blessed and grateful to be surrounded by good genuine people. Life is funny, its unpredictable and I feel blessed that I am still alive and able to live these moments. I work hard but it is true, if you love your work then you enjoy even the tiredness.

When the events finished, I went up to my room and I cried. Why? Because I saw the smiles on our sponsors and delegates. We all worked so hard, and that was my reward. Whoever works with me and my associates never leaves unsatisfied and these comes after lot of hours of work and along with having a great team.

Never give up on your dreams, I was dreaming of India since the age of 8 and I manage to go at the age of 41.

Nadia