The Lump In The Throat Moment...

And today, Neeti is heading back home to Mumbai for a month.

We had painstakingly planned this trip back home. Neeti is heading home now and I would follow in about two and a half weeks. We spent the last few days running around buying gifts for family and friends and completed the packing. And then, as Neeti's departure date drew closer, we were invited by friends in Songdo for dinner and tea, as is usual in expatriate life.

But there was a tingling sense of loneliness creeping inside me. Neeti will be away in India for a month and I will be alone here for sometime - that would be hard! There would be no one to fight with, no one around to talk to. But I steeled myself and tried my level best to be brave and help her out with the packing and the logistics.

And so early this morning, we headed out of Songdo towards Incheon Airport...

We reached there pretty early. After Neeti checked in and received her boarding passes, we decided to have a little date - we headed upstairs to the Paris Baguette outlet and ordered tea and some croissants as we sat down keeping a cheery persona. I knew she was also having similar emotions as I was having.

I got a few moments of Plane Spotting as our order was being prepared...

Neeti would be travelling to Mumbai via Hong Kong - her flight to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific's CX-421, is a "Fifth Freedom" flight, which would touchdown at Taipei, Taiwan enroute to Hong Kong. And I just realised that would be incredible - Neeti would be in four countries today - starting from Korea, she would pass by Taiwan and Hong Kong before landing back home in India!

And soon I was time to say bye and that made me quite homesick. Hopefully, I would also make it home in a few weeks and would get to see her again. 

Have a safe and enjoyable journey back home, Neeti!

I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always! -- Part XIV - An Evening Of Thanksgiving...

We're soon going to be completing 3 months in Songdo - these 3 months have been extremely trying but enriching at the same time. 

Most of the times, we have been pleasantly surprised by what lay ahead of us, just around the corner. And we have got to interact with people from all around the world - in a sense Songdo is a microcosm of the "shrinking world".

And then we were invited by our Peruvian-American friend to join him in celebrating the American festival of Thanksgiving. And we enthusiastically agreed - not only would we get accustomed to the festivities in the United States, but this would, in a sense, be our thanksgiving to Songdo, for not only surviving here but also for the intangible enriching experiences that we got here, in Korea, in the last 3 months...

My first introduction to the Thanksgiving celebrations happened as a kid - I was always a history buff. And I had a soft spot for American history - the migration from Europe to the New World, the American War of Independence, the Civil War leading up to modern United States. One of the books that my parents bought for me from a local bookshop was on the early settlers in New England - a Ladybird book called The Pilgrim's Progress!

The book explained the challenges the settlers faced in New England in the 1600s, described how they overcame the challenges and how they celebrated the their first harvest in the new land with a feast, shared with a local tribe - the Wampanoags. 

In short, the story goes as follows: English separatists or the Pilgrims, as they were called, who arrived at Plymouth Rock onboard the ship, Mayflower. The settlers did not have enough food to survive. The native Wampanoag tribe helped them adapt to the new environment and get settled. They gave the Pilgrims seeds and taught them how to fish. And after a particularly good harvest, the Pilgrims had a three-day feast, which they shared with the Wampanoag people. It is believed that the food served at this feast was all local produce - turkey with stuffing, seafood and fall vegetables like corn and squash. This was the origin of the modern Thanksgiving feast, which was formalised by Abraham Lincoln after the Civil War. 

Today, Thanksgiving is one of the biggest festivals in the United States, commemorating the fall harvest and kicking off the holiday season with a feast to acknowledge our gratitude for bounties of nature that all Americans can enjoy.

The bounties of fall with mandarins from Jeju...

And the good stuff - food. This lovely colourful salad was our contribution to the feast...

Cranberry sauce to go with the turkey...

Some more salad...

Dinner rolls...

The good stuff - roast turkey with crispy skin!

Creamed green beans...

Creamy mashed potatoes with dill...

Bright mandarins...

There goes the Thanksgiving trivia quiz...

And finally Nirvana - a delectable meal to celebrate our Thanksgiving to Korea for making us feel at home!

The Magical Flame Of Diwali, In An Alien Land...

Today, it was our first Diwali in Korea, an alien land, that we have began calling home, for the next few years.

The contrast with India was vivid. Back home, everything comes to a standstill, a few days before Diwali. Markets are decked up, there is a frenzy to clean up homes, buy new clothes and prepare for the festival. 

It felt a little odd that there was no festivity here.And yes, it was a working day today. It was a bit depressing to get up early and head to office instead of preparing for the festival. Diwali messages from India really rubbed it in - I felt alone, really alone in an alien land, away from friends and family and the conviviality that comes alongwith a day like this... 

But it is Diwali, I just couldn't feel low. I pushed myself, adding a spring in each step and went about my day.

And in the evening, perked up by Neeti's chirpiness, we cooked up a delicious meal - stuffed capsicum and maa ki daal!

We did our puja, welcoming Goddess Lakshmi in our new abode in Songdo!

And lit up the magical flame of Diwali, ushering in a new beginning...

After lighting up home, it was time to have dinner and dessert - atte ka halwa that Neeti had made. Indeed that was the best halwa I had eaten in ages...

Then came the biggest fun-filled surprise - meeting local Indians for lighting up some fireworks, as we do back home in India. Indeed life is all about creating a home wherever one lives and building new relationships - that's the message the magical flame of our first Diwali in Korea brought us... 

The Line That Divides A Nation - The Bridge Of Freedom...

As we complete our round of the DMZ area, we headed from the JSA to Imjingak Park, passing by the location where the infamous murder of Captain Bonifas took place. 

We also passed by the "Bridge of No Return" that crosses the MDL. The bridge was used for prisoner exchanges at the end of the Korean War in 1953. The prisoners could either remain in the country of their captivity or cross the bridge to return to their homeland. However, once the prisoners chose to cross the bridge, they would never be allowed to return, even if they later changed their minds - this gave the bridge its name.

On the way to Imjingak Park, we got a glimpse of Daeseong-dong (Tae Sung Dong), a unique South Korean village, the only civilian habitation within the DMZ. Residents of village have some unique benefits and restrictions. They are exempt from conscription and taxes. Residents are also leased large plots of land by the government for agriculture. 

However, residents of Daeseong-dong are subject to some severe limitations. Visitors invited to the Daeseong-dong must apply for a military escort two weeks in advance. There is an 11 PM curfew followed by a headcount - all this because in the past, North Korean soldiers have crossed the border and kidnapped citizens. 

Outsiders are not allowed to relocate to Daeseong-dong. To maintain residency rights, residents of Daeseong-dong have to spend at least 240 days in the village. If they don't meet that requirement, they must explain why they are unable to do so. Most unmarried youth are forced to look outside the village for their spouses. 

As we approached Imjingak, I shuddered thinking about families divided by the DMZ. A Korean friend told me she recalls her grandmother used to cry thinking about her siblings on the other side of the frontier - she had no clue about their fate - whether they were alive or not. Communication across the DMZ is strictly prohibited. That's why a lot of separated Koreans often pray "Let’s meet again in the afterlife".

Recently, a reunion of broken families was organised in a North Korean resort. A particularly poignant story emerged from this reunion. Soon-gyu Lee and In-se Oh were separated six months after they got married. Back then, Lee was pregnant when Oh left, planning to return in 10 days. Lee wished Oh a safe trip, not knowing this would be their last conversation for for decades. The DMZ was demarcated and Oh was trapped on the other side. And they finally met about 10 days back (probably their last meeting), and this was the first time Oh met his son. 

The local press reported that Oh told Lee to sit closer to him during the shortlived reunion. Lee gifted Oh a wristwatch, a gift she always wanted to give him. Lee mentioned she always saw Oh in her dreams.

There would be so many painful stories like the one of Oh and Lee all over this land that could make any person cry. But that generation is dying. The young South Koreans would have little affinity for what lies beyond the DMZ. Indeed, time changes everything....

At Imjingak, the Freedom Bridge was fenced off and separated by barbed wire with prayers for peace and notes left for family members on the other side stuck to the fence...

This train is a relic of the war...

The train was heavily damaged during the war...

The train is rusting away, just like the way the ties across the DMZ have rusted with time...

Imjingak is particularly beautiful. This the only place where locals can get this close to North Korea...

An underground bombing shelter...

Perhaps some day, better sense will prevail in the North...

Comforting a pained lady...

Till the day reunification happens, there will be tears here, there will be prayers said...

...and there will be some smiles of hope!

Reflections At Zhongshan Park...

There's never a better moment to reflect back than now... That's what we discovered earlier tonight!

After an early dinner at Balestier Food Market, we leisurely walked past the heritage buildings of Balestier Road... 

All along, while we were enjoying the cool breeze, which is so rare in Singapore, we shuddered at the thought of waking up early for the flight to Kuala Lumpur...

Before calling it a day, we got tempted to sit at Zhongshan Park for a while...

As we sat down, we looked at the reflections of Days Hotel next door, in the ponds...

The sound of the water was calming...

And we drifted into deep thought...

"We've come a long way in life! While that is satisfying, we do have a long way to together and with our loved ones! We have a lot to do!"

We thanked God Almighty for his blessings that have brought us this far in life. In some time, we headed back to our hotel, to finally call it a day! And, yes, hoping that tomorrow (and indeed every "tomorrow" after tomorrow) will come as a blessing in our lives...