My Story: This Entire Situation Reignited My Love For India

This story is a perfect example of how our treatment of the foreign visitors in our country changes the way they see our country and sometimes even make them respect our country and say truly “Incredible India”.

“Hi there, I’m from Sydney Australia and have been living in India for the past 5 months with my wife of Indian heritage. We came out to Delhi to follow our dreams of living 6 months in India (a country we love) and 6 months in Australia. It has been a HUGE challenge for us, more so for me as I try to build a business from scratch in a totally foreign country with almost ZERO contacts.

India has pushed ALL of my emotional buttons ranging from tears of joy evoked by being amongst the immense natural beauty and village life of India’s spectacular interiors, to down right hopelessness and despair as I struggle to earn enough income to just get by making me eager to get back to Australia! This all came to a head literally a few hours ago when I left my iPhone 6 (which is also my wallet with all my cards in it) on a platform seat at Hauz Khas metro station.

The moment I realised I had left it there, I was on the train on my way to Huda City Station, I started to shake and break out into a panicked sweat trying to ‘hold it together’ in a train full of people. I wondered, ‘what do I do? Do I go back to look for it?’ I figured there was no point as I had decided that there was no hope of finding it. As I sat on the train a flood of negative thoughts and emotions came over me like a dark cloud! My challenging time in India had slowly started to build a negativity within me about India and its people, something I knew was NOT GOOD. I was managing the best way I could through my daily self-hypnotic meditative practice. But here and now, I thought to myself, ‘PERFECT! I’m only a few weeks from leaving this country and now THIS!’ I started to make all sorts of sweeping statements and generalisations in my head about India and its people, things I’m not proud of for even thinking, despite feeling ‘justified’ by my personal experience. It hadn’t even occurred to me to even try to call my number and see if getting reunited with my phone was even possible. I asked security at Huda station to call Haus Khas security and when they told me the phone had not been handed in, I felt, EVEN MORE, justified in ‘hating India and all its people!’ Can you believe it? I mean, here I am, a therapist, speaker and mind/body/spirit coach, supposedly a picture of upliftment and here I am thinking all this?!?! I did the only thing I could do, in the auto rickshaw on my way to see my client, I closed my eyes, breathed deeply, accepted the reality of the situation and JUST LET GO!

This actually gave me an amazing sense of relief and calmness which actually turned into a sense of being FREE from my phone and wallet. Having put myself in a MUCH better state, to my absolute amazement, my client met me at the elevator doors on her floor saying ‘I found your phone’ and I froze in absolute AMAZEMENT! I thought ‘what the hell?’ She had tried to ring me but instead spoke to the guy who had my phone. He tried to get my attention as I walked on the train, but I didn’t hear him as I had headphones on and the doors closed preventing him from following me on the train even though he was going in the opposite direction and already late for his own appointment! I thought to myself ‘OMG’. I arranged to meet him and 1.5hrs later here I am literally writing this on my iPhone 6 and wallet in hand: we are reunited once again! I gave him a hug, almost all the money I had, which he only accepted after MUCH persistence from me! I thought of taking a picture with him but as he wasn’t able to speak English and I failed to make him understand my desire of having a photo with him.

I’m still in shock and processing the entire situation, my thoughts, emotions and how it all played out! This entire event reignited my love for India and it’s people again, it’s restored my faith in Indian people and I’m SO GRATEFUL for that! It also reinforced my belief in the power of making a conscious CHOICE to ‘let go’ when the ‘crap hits the fan’ and how when you do this, things WILL WORK OUT! Thank you, India and to the man who found my phone, I may well come back to Delhi after all.”

– Nick Terrone

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