Missing our family/friends

Indian Volunteer working in Developing countries of Asia and Africa

Posted by Aryamitra Maheshkar on April 19, 2008 at 3:53pm

Now I am here in PNG for five months, and am in contact with my family though it cost me more than what I gain but then there is a fear that after two years of volunteering my family in general and my wife in particular would forget me. Bieng a indian i do not think so, but here I am confused with the western culture should I respond or not?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Aryamitra Maheshkar on April 20, 2008 at 1:16pm: Ofcourse I know I would not, and I would certainlly be honest to my wife and myself. But this particullar issue I hope married volunteers who left their family behind face. So I have put it for discussion.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ranjana Bhattacharya on April 23, 2008 at 12:57pm: missing family and friends? most certainly yes. but there is only one consolation that spending 2years out of such a long life( hopefully) is nothing for a change. its a pain to be alone but the courage to face it and endure it makes u more stronger and lovable in the long run. what do u say?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Aryamitra Maheshkar on April 24, 2008 at 6:35am: Dear Ms.Ranjana
I do agree to you and not much to say.

Yes, was reading your page, where you talk about your family. In my veiw when a man talks of his family he speaks about his spouse than his children, and its the other way when a women speaks of her family. In your case you have given more details of your two children than of yourself or of your partner. This comment is general and if at all you feel I am intefering in your personal matter, i apologise.
I am 42 yrs and do have two children but my daughter is 14th [yesterday was her bithday] son 11yrs and his birthday 15th August. I mentioning this because your children look bit older where you married in early age because atleast from your writngs you sound very young (sorry agian in no way I am asking your age) I am only apreciating your enrgy to work maybe your commitment and dedication.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Snigdha Sen on April 23, 2008 at 12:59pm: I am missing my families and friends soooo much. But I am trying to communicate them everyday (at least with my parents). I am missing my friends when I am facing trouble and dont want to discuss these with my parents. As an alternative I am trying to establish another social network around me. That does not mean I will stop miss them. No way. I think each and every relationship is unique and no other relation can be substitute for that.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by pratap sinha on April 23, 2008 at 3:46pm: Right , missing them a lot and also planning to go to Indian on own cost! Cant help it!
Bytheway, just to let you all know the cheapest way of communication , most of the people know abt it but still for knowledge
Calling from Yahoo messenger is cheapest as payment is made in $ ( .08 cents per min) and not in GBP (.13 cants per min) i.e. from skype. This is applicable when you want to give call on cell or landline. You can buy upto 25US$ on yahoo and more as well but skype is restricted to 30GBP a month. It can only be bought through credit card not necessarily your own but rather anybodies C. Card.
Free of cost talking can be possibly through any messenger like yahoo, MSN, gmail, skype or redifftalk , the person at Indian need to sit on messenger with mic and head phone on and same from your side and you can talk for free and also see them on web came if both the end computer have one or even one end computer have one.
Of course chatting is possible any time!
The transfer of voice will depend on the speed and connection of internet provider on both ends. Generally it works; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Snigdha Sen on April 23, 2008 at 6:19pm: Thanks for your information. I found another cheap communication through world call card available in South Africa. Calling home only R2 per min and $1 = R7.8 nowadys.

By the way when are you going? I am also planning to go home. Will add my christmas leave with my annual leave to stay long.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by pratap sinha on April 23, 2008 at 8:49pm: Well snigdha I think u need to recalculate on the cheaper call rate, don’t wanna comment on ur maths ;-) kidding ...
If 1$=7.8R then 2R=0.26$approx . if u call from yahoo messenger then per min costs u 0.08 cents (US$)= 0.62R and if u calling from skype then 0.14 cents (GBP)= 2.1R (if 1GBP=15R).so still yahoo is 1.38R per min cheaper then world call card which is approx 69% less than what u pay in world call card per min.!!
Hope that is clear and simple! ;-) for talking 1hr to India I only pay 37.44 R and u would pay 120 R… think again!!
By the way, I am going in May and just for two weeks I have not added Christmas holidays coz I cant stay in office when every1 is on holiday. I might go to Vic falls or cape town or Malawi but wont b able to add that holiday here! Bad luck! When r u leaving for India?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Priya Karthikeyan on May 16, 2008 at 7:18am: hi, I am priya karthi, we are placed in PNG, we are using voip vise to call home which is very cheap for us to call from PNG to india. usually it is about 65rs/ min by landline. but through voip wise calling to india less that 4 rs. why cant you try, for more details please visit the website www.voipwise.com. there are some calls totally free to selected countries.; ▶ Reply to This