East Calling

By: Fari B

Since we left Iran (I was four) we hand't been back. I wanted to go East though and see how they lived over there. I was always sure the way of life in UK wasn't the only way to live, and spending a year in Italy proved to me that there are more optimistic, open-hearted communities and cultures out there. Eventually I started a yoga while at Uni that taught me loads about pan-Indian philosphies and I ended up taking my student loans to a music academy in Nagpur for a year. Life was so fabulous there I didn't want to leave and so went on selling my sarod and teahcing English and drama in an international school right up in the Himalayas...

My mum was going a bit crazy as it had been two years and I had had my nose pierced while getting anew visa in Kathmandu. She was upset as this was not an Iranian thing to do, but I was sold! Too late! She brought the family out to Rajasthan and toured a bit and I then went Ireland to earn more money to go back! Addicted!

After five years I'm back in London, but always have the things I learned in India inside me. A kind of peaceful contentment and strength. I'd wanted to go back to Iran but India proved to be more than enough. Some Eastern education to supplement the UK degree! I've lived in six countries during my lifetime over 11 years, but of all, India is the most profound.