Now when I’m spending time in the U.S., I’m often in Colorado, and that is another place that feels like home. A few places in northern India also feel like home! When I’m in India, I am missing my family and friends in the U.S., the gorgeous landscapes of the American West, as well as certain foods (blueberries, quinoa and kombucha, being a few), but when I’m in the U.S., I miss my Indian friends and speaking Hindi, and I long for cups of chai and rajma and rice and the slower pace of life. There’s a certain sense of never being whole anywhere, but also having a greatly expanded heart at the same time.
Out of all the countries you've lived in so far, what country has been your favorite?
India is my favorite, hands down. India is so vast and diverse that there are endless places to explore and things to learn. Despite having spent more than three years there, I nonetheless understand less than 3% of what’s going on at any given moment, so there is always something to learn. Across South Asia (India, Nepal and Bangladesh), people have taught me what hospitality really means by setting the best example of opening their hearts and homes to me. The food is truly amazing, and there are so many different kinds of foods to try, far beyond what’s available in Indian restaurants in the U.S.
Of the countries that you've been to, which countries' population speak the most English?
Northern Europeans (from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway) speak amazing English in my experience, and Germans are not far behind. Liberia, Ghana and the Gambia all have English as an official language, even though most people’s mother tongue is another language.
