My village is yours and it is there for everyone else

 Mr. Husband agreed to go to India with me, which was fun but there was a problem.

All these years I traveled to India on my own, with kids or everyone. This time for the first time Anand stayed on his own at home, Ajey in his apartment in the city. Anand has stayed home for couple of days before but not for 17 days. And we were going to India not somewhere local. On top of that he is working at BJ’s so transportation was an issue.

Thats where the village supported us. Instead of asking my closest friends to help I reached out to the bigger circle of friends. I built an Indian women community here in Franklin too, 94 members as of today. 

“I am looking for rides for my son Anand for 10 days , any help is much appreciated.  M to F he works at BJ's 12 to 4. we are looking for ride from our home at 11.40AM Pickup and from BJ's at 4 PM to our home.”

People reached out to me with various options, if not for ride, for Anand’s meal, his grocery store run, or shopping or any issue he gets into while we were away. It was heartwarming to see people offering whatever they could.

The list and schedule were made and a whats-app group was formed. A tiny tea meet up at my home took places so Anand can see everyone and vice versa.

I left for India without a solid plan, I had an idea about people’s availability of days, on my plane ride I work on that. Mr. Husband came after two weeks and our transportation plan worked very smoothly. Anand was part of the group. The list was already posted in the group with Name, time and phone number. Every morning I posted that day’s and next day’s ride. Many of them sent me a text after they dropped him off at work or at home. Some sent couple more lines telling me about him. I didn’t hear from him about drives though. I came back home tired, sad, happy and more. The trip was a mix of various emotions. But when I look back gratitude takes over everything. 

When I started building this group in Franklin almost 19 yrs ago I didnt know it will give back to me in such a way. My son could live on his own, with the help of my village. I am utterly proud of him but at the same time I know he and we couldn’t have done without the help of my village.

My village is my strength and now my son’s too - I hope you have the same.

A sambalpuri Ikat to meet my village a gift from a friend in Mumbai