Joshi, a MUN graduate and former Eastern Health resident, is currently pursuing a fellowship at the University of Manitoba in adult clinical immunology and allergy. During a visit home this summer, he wrote of his love for the island on Eastern Health's Storyline website.
“I'm leaving you again. And I hate it. Every time I've had to leave you for a significant portion of time, I hated it,” he begins.
“There are many beautiful places in the world. Strange nooks and famous walkways that have amazing stories. They're beautiful to visit. But what I've longed for is home. Being away is not the same. It feels like the oxygen is being depleted from me with every breath that isn't on the island. I'm missing another joke my friends made over brunch or memory my family are making without me. I know time is passing. I see it on the faces of the people I love. But what remains the same is that feeling that being in Newfoundland gives you the moment you step off the plane. That no matter who you are, no matter what part of the earth you've known, the language you've spoken or the things you've seen, you are home.”
Joshi writes that he is weary of cynicism, pretention and “a world that speaks in a weird jargon I don't understand.”
“It's strange to live in this time of history, where the world seems awash with hate and intolerance. I never knew about that growing up. I had a childhood of happiness and support, where my teachers, neighbours and friends made our community brilliant in ways I couldn't appreciate. I learned about racism at the age of 12. And you know where I learned it from? Television,” he writes.
He goes on to say that Newfoundland is facing some critical challenges, but he's not in a position to prescribe answers.
“But what I will say is that I think the way forward is us together, with the things that make Newfoundland so brilliant: family, friends, entrepreneurship and music. But most importantly food. Delicious, glorious, local food.”
To read the full text, visit Eastern Health's Storyline website.
