Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Mera Desh -I

I have so many things to write. My recent trip to India was full of such stories. But then I realized the biggest thing. Almost all of us( who are back after a India trip) had their own stories. And it was all about the same things, how India is not that shining as we thought it was from far away. How it was polluted, corrupt, but still India is good old India. These would have been 3-4 blog topics for me but then everybody is writing about it.

What shocked me the most was a chat with bharat. I told him that I am feeling so damn homesick and want to go back now, without finishing the MS. He said he too felt the same and not just him but everybody around. Then I told him-“But you know, there was a time in India when I was dying to be back here.” He said even that is not unique to you and all of us felt that. These dialogues shocked me coz I thought they were my very own. But they turned out to be every tom dick and harry’s feelings.

I had thought of somethings that I will never do when I go to India. Like cribbing about the lifestyle there and saying good things about US. But I had to. On the very next day. Because I was down with cold. People were saying that may be the cold was too much for you. They made me feel like some fulkumari. But then I had to tell them, its not the cold, it’s the pollution here. Coz that was THE reason. Next was the dollar-rupee thing. I couldn’t stop telling the prices in dollars> now how the hell are you supposed to convert dollars per pound to rupees per kg?

Bangalore was just the same. People always cribbing about the airport traffic but then I still did never face it. And 2 of the same people, when they came to kolkata for my bro’s marriage, realized what Traffic jam was. Another thing was software people and their salaries. Somehow people are never happy. Anu showed me a skit video. People earning 6 lpa within 2 years are calling their salaries peanuts. Tap Tap Tap, these bangaloreans are crazy. Another thing about Bangalore was the prices. They were just Rs converted to dollars. No cost of living differences. For 100 Rs, you don’t get coffees as good as starbucks while here u get an excellent one for 2.5$.

But yes, I enjoyed Idli and more idli. I couldn’t stop eating idlys in the numerous sagars of Bangalore. And last but not the least Forum mall, Bangalore. People say Garuda is bigger, better, more strategically placed. I don’t disagree. But forum mein ek apnapan lagta hai mujhko. Aisa lagta hai ki barson se yahin aata hoon. Same feelings for PVR where even a movie like Happy Feet (its te worst cartoon I have seen till date) is houseful on a Monday afternoon show.

Contd in the part 2 blog

2 comments:

Anthrax said...

Like they say grass is always greener on the other side, we always tend to go for the other one.

What if you go back without completing MS (something i was seriously considering and by no means i am joking), all the investment of time and money goes waste.

Funny thing is if you dont go back, "we hear oppurtunist, traitor and so on"; but if we go back what we hear is "what, aint good enough for US, probably got fired, such a wastrel".

If you were in India and all your friends in US and even though you do well, still we hear "Poor thing, couldnt make it to US, i understand how he must be feeling".

Sad but true.

Well written sandy. Good job.

Ananth

Advay said...

I guess you can't compare the 2 countries. There are good and bad scenarios in both countries.
Try to learn the positives from both countries.