Namaste India!
So we are back! After spending a long time outside the country - 8 years for me, and about 25 years for Neha - we are back in "Desh". Given that the decision to come back was something that we (and tons of our friends) had spent countless hours debating, I thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to keep a regular log of what we go through as we rediscover our own country once again. The goal is threefold (spoken like a true consultant):
- To preserve memories of what is going to be an interesting adventure, so that Neha and I can look back and enjoy
- Many of our close friends in the US are quite interested in knowing all the major happenings, as well as the minor but interesting tidbits, associated with our move back. I hope that this blog will act as a substitute, albeit a poor one, for a nice chat session by the fireplace wherein we would have shared all the gory & funny details
- Finally, I hope to share some factual (and some emotional) information about the move as well. When we discussed the move with others, we came across a lot of adjectives and very few facts ('too expensive', 'too' this or 'little' that). I plan to share some more nouns and numbers - hopefully it will useful for people mulling over the same decision of moving back vs. not
So that's that - we now know what this blog will be all about. The hardest piece is already done - I'm over the hump of inertia! :)
Before I start sharing actual stories and incidents, I figured that to get started, how about a quick pulse-check on what we are feeling, after spending about a month in India. Instead of summarizing everything in a neat framework or a pithy statement, here's what I've done. I made Neha and myself list down, within 2 minutes, the top words that come to mind about the move. (Words, Phrases, Hinglish, ...anything). There were only two rules: don't repeat something that you have already written, and don't force yourself to balance goods vs. bads, etc. Here's the result (in random order) - words/phrases that both of us independently wrote down are bolded:
- Crazy Decision of moving back
- Frustration
- "Ho jayega sir/madam"
- Kadai paneer pizza
- Unprofessionalism
- "Double 1 and Triple 2" (Instead of saying 11222)
- "Mattha-pachhi"
- Home Delivery of everything
- Family
- "Dhakka-mukki"
- SMS and "missed call maarna"
- Hand-washed car daily
- No punctuality
- Awesome food (I broke my own rule and wrote this down three times)
- Not have to lift a finger
- More grey hair
- Domestic help
- Fight maaro for everything
- Power cuts
- Inexpensive
- Tiring
- Hassles
- Have to follow-up with everyone
- "Jee" (as in "Neha Jee", "Saurabh Jee")
- "How does this country even work?"
- Pleasant surprise
- Need to know the right guy
- Why did we do this? (move back)
- Desi movies and songs
- Zero trust on everyone
- There are oases in the desert
- Updates to family
- Traffic
- Dust
- Waiting for people
- No shelf liner
So that's it - a quick shout out of whatever we've felt so far. More details in upcoming posts - keep reading!
- D
(Above: The wonderful home made khaana we were treated to as soon as we got setup in our temp apartment. Poori, Aaloo kee sabzi, ker-sangri, Dal ka halwa, Keri kee launji)
(Above: Cute looking Peehu, who is always smiling)
(Above: Kuhu and her Chachi playing Holi)
(Above: The mice will party when the cat's away - Sharma Brothers enjoying a relaxing evening with a few drinks while Mum Pa have gone for a walk)
(Above: The wonderful home made khaana we were treated to as soon as we got setup in our temp apartment. Poori, Aaloo kee sabzi, ker-sangri, Dal ka halwa, Keri kee launji)
(Above: Cute looking Peehu, who is always smiling)
(Above: Kuhu and her Chachi playing Holi)
(Above: The mice will party when the cat's away - Sharma Brothers enjoying a relaxing evening with a few drinks while Mum Pa have gone for a walk)
(Above: The entire family gave me a surprise. Also in the pic is Shailesh and his family - Shailesh was the enabler of the surprise)
(Above: The lovely new member in our family - Peehu. She has 5 times as much hair on her head that I do)
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