Waking up in the midst of clouds in a tree house (Read cabin) in the appalachian range or holding your son for the first time or driving for hours through a winding road lined with trees in full bloom during the fall season .Four years of my life I spent in a foreign land and when I look back it's like the different colours through a kaleidoscope.
The boom in service industry has benefitted/touched each and every one of my generation in India.For an accidental engineer (Who wanted to be a doc,as if there were other choices !!)like me travelling around the world was a dream. Not any more,the IT boom swelled and carried me to different shores around the world.
What started as a brief sojourn lasted for 4 years,countless good memories,some very good friends and not to mention tasting some of the awesomest cuisines (True Odiya isnt it).All Odiyas are crazy about food and I'm no exception.The extremes Odiyas can go for food can be a research topic in itself and can be handled on request from readers :-)
Four months after I left the land of dreams and decided to settle down in the land of dum biryani & haleem (Read Hyderabad), what I miss and what I love is a heady mix of different flavours of an ice cream (No not tequila ) with a cherry on top.
I still remember the first time I landed in the US and a black cabbie dropped me at my hotel. I was worried I will be mugged and robbed of Rs.2500 I had in my pocket...well after sometime it dawned me that even a dignified roadside alms seeker has a branded backpack,chair to sit and dines at McDonald's.Thankfully my fears were unfounded and I reached hotel safely. My project was at Research triangle park in Raleigh,the capital of North Carolina.
So that's the backdrop of my travel and the stay,now coming back to what I miss about the US and what I love in India.
The top five I miss about the US:
1. Volleyball,Cricket, Racquetball & of course some free time to play it
2. NPR (My daily companion to office and back home.It's quality radio for free)
3. Wide freeways and long weekend drives
4. Cuisines from around the world
5. Deals (Ahhh...how many weekends I have invested on them !!!)
I learnt quite a few sports in the US and may be excelled in it, let others vouch for it...Racquetball can be quite a gruelling sport if you have a matching partner..Hasham are you reading this ??? and which my wife would like to forget as she had to massage after the game.For me Volleyball started as a girly thing...and we just joined in and without my knowledge became a daily routine. I spent all my evenings on the volleyball court under the floodlights or till it was dark enough when
you cant figure out where the ball is :-). We played some tournies too which we lost but I can proudly say we had a good team on paper (Just like Team India...ha ha).
My favourite programs on NPR (www.NPR.org):
1. Fresh air
2. All things considered
3. Marketplace (Kai Ryssdal and his infectious energy)
4. Car talk (The hosts are hillarious)
Before NPR happened to me I thought radio was only for listening to songs when you forgot your CDs,I didnt know it can be so interesting. The programs are so thought provoking,interesting and varied it's simply a treasure trove.You can download podcasts of the programs in India too.
What can I say about Freeways in the US, they are the lifelines with all the good eateries,clean restrooms and not to mention the natural landscapes.US is blessed with so much natural beauty and the best way to experience it is by driving, be it the vastness of the plains(In the midwest) to green mountains(Virginia,West virginia) ,the deserts in California.
Cuisines !!!!Ahhh my favourite topic.I tasted some of the best authentic cuisines in the US. American,Mexican,Thai,Italian,Greek,Lebanese,African,Mongolian and of course Indian
to name a few.Some of my friends found the calling of the kitchen in the US and developed into awesome cooks. From Mutton curry(Santanu you rock man),Fish curry (Sniggy is the fish queen), to Ghaanta(Odiya Mixed veg from Smita's kitchen) and different forms of chaats (courtesy my dearest wifey's kitchen).
Deals and deals galore...slickdeals to deals2buy. Ummmmm...I love deals and that too during Thanksgiving and 4th July.
Besides all the above there were many firsts for me in the US, like...
1. White water rafting (Now for doubting Joe: See the pic)
2. Rowing (Can you believe it !!!)
3. Swimming (Though I still cant swim properly, I admit it's PATHETIC)
4. Giant wheel (I'm scared of heights,but what can I say I was dragged into it )
5. Driving my own car ( he he..97 Accord. My first car)
INDIA HERE I COME:
So after 4 years of living life in an amusement park(Read the US) I decided to come back to India for good.India has changed so much in between and though quality of life has improved so much, the people in the core are the same. I feel the kids are a more confident lot with a dont care attitude...Good or bad you decide.But one thing I have noticed is be it villages or small towns or big cities the central topic mostly is about wealth.Is it the last four years or I was a social recluse all along that I missed it...well who cares as long as India shines and it definitely shines for MNCs too.
Now the 5 things I'm loving in India:
1. Home delivery (Newspaper,milk,groceries even a beautician a phone call away, you name it)
2. Maid or "Baai" (How much we missed a maid in the US, they cost a fortune there)
3. Food (Now even biryanis are delivered piping hot within 27mins or money back)
4. Festivals with friends & family
5. People for change
I can feel how much I missed the home delivery be it groceries,medicines even the barber to trim my mane.Now dont blame me I wasnt that lazy,India brought that quality out of me...
Me and my wife both admit our maid is the best and I think everyone will concur how they are life savers :-). So my advise "treasure everyday of your life with your maid" ( Quote inspired from "Fantastic four" when Striker saves Jessica Alba :-))
Hyderabad is certainly a place for foodies, with authentic sounth indian to hyderabadi dum biryani and the flavourful haleem. The must visit restaurants will be in a different blog for sure as it demands more attention and detail.
It was a surprise for us that Ganesh chaturthi is so grand in Hyderabad. It went on for 10 days culminating with a lunch for around 5k people and "visarjan" at my community.This was first such experience for Varin (My 17 months old) and he was spellbound with the sound,lights,firecrackers and of course the humongous crowd.Looking forward to Dussehra at Odisha this time.
Scams,scams and scams all running into billions...it has hijacked the headlines of all news stories. Though it was no surprise but the bottoms up movement like India against corruption does have significance which forced ordinary people to come out of their houses to show solidarity. On a more mundane day to day cause the movement of "The Ugly Indians" is really a novel idea and definitely needs a spot light.Do check the link in Facebook for more about this movement
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Ugly-Indian/123459791046618?fref=ts (http://www.theuglyindian.com)
I welcome your views and experiences. Do leave a comment when you read this blog.
