Jai ho !!

What brings a smile on your face?

Firstly, the famous oscar-award song(Jai Ho) which is heard everywhere in India keeps reminding me of the actual premise of the movie too, the slums !! Not that these omnipresent dwellings require any reminder!! But, my first-hand experience with any slum-dweller is yet to be explored.

My due apologies to the famous actors and directors who lashed out this movie before the Oscars. True, India is more than just beggars, slums and the corrupt government. But, definitely..what Danny Boyle showed in the movie is no less. Just that, reality is harsher when its viewed on the celluloid.

So, what made me write this post about slums? Is it the Oscars ?? No... We, as proud Indians, have watched this movie long back before it created ripples in the entire entertainment industry, and also maintained that it's a wonderful movie (Despite the "Gussa of BigB"). It's the beaming smile of a poor boy which made me write about their lives... atleast to think about them.

The other day, while we were heading back to our gleaming new car, after a party we treated ourselves in a posh restaurant(excuse : CAR ) ... I had these kids, scantily clad, running upto me and asking me "Ek rupaiyya de do, memsaab!" Well, after the more-than-a-thousand bucks we spent on a single dine-out, I was immediately embarassed with the extreme lives our Indians spend in terms of their lifestyles.

One rupee ! Will it make a difference to them? I had no idea how. I gave the kid a long stare, debating on whether to encourage beggars or not. But, my heart leapt on his baby sister(I have serious doubts if it was his own...courtesy the movie). Anyway, it didn't stop me for giving him a 5 rupee coin. Well, am not trying to say it was a generous thing, but the way the boy jumped with joy when he saw 4 bucks more than what he asked... it was totally worth it. He went out to his friends and proudly showed it off. Another Jamal Malik in the making?? I fervently hope so... Sadly, life is not that rosy as it seems in the movies either. I asked my uncle, "What will become of them?" He simply said, "Girls to red light, and boys to black !" What a simple statement, yet painfully true.

Another black feather in the cap, I recently read it in the newspaper, on how the father of Rubina Ali(the youngest Latika in the movie) tried to sell her off to an incognito journalist for a whopping sum of Rs.1 Cr. Thank God it was a fake media guy trying to feed his hungry newspaper. If it was a real Arabian??? God Forbid. Who are we kidding anyway? This happens with so many other girls too.

Coming back to my experience, I remember the umpteen number of times I used to save some leftover food in the fridge, forget totally about it, and finally trash it after a week (because of no choice in the US). Here, I felt good about not trashing it, instead fed my maid, who doesn't know how to thank verbally, but shows it in a very effective way of cleaning my house.

Don't these small gestures bring a smile on your face? Well, since I've spent about 5 yrs abroad, all these seem a bit alien to me,.... the rest of the Indians might find it humorous that am penning down a meagre amount and a bowl of upma. It's just that they touched my heart and the lives of people I touch. So, please bear with my thoughts :)

So, as I set out to explore more on the Indian standards.. I realize its not just missing out some silly American things, but to face a lot of harsh realities too.

Jai Ho!

With love , From India

Hi all,
Life as an Indian bahu... a never-ending saga !!

As I start on my new life, I suddenly miss some of the daily things I used to take it for granted in my life abroad. Read on but don't laugh... instead, would be glad if anyone coming to India would get them for me ....

--> Paper towels : Bounty !! Does it sound like a puppy's name?? Naa... thats the brand I used while in US... Courtesy Costco !! Oh...how I miss them... we used to throw them like waste paper there( wait, they ARE paper)..but then, here...you get the worse-than-toiletpaper quality, courtesy BigBazaar :(... Can anyone from the US get me those???Pls pls pls :D

--> My fat-free milk :( .... Huh, am bound to put on all my shedded lbs ( spelt kgs here )due to the Indian fat milk... I know I cannot get it imported from the US..but just complaining..no harm in it na ??

--> The conventional oven : Baking was my second love...dont ask the first (there are many :D) ...I used to bake muffins, cakes ( no, no..dont expect it from scratch...everything was from a ready-made pouch... oh come on, am not a baker :D)..so yeah, I miss baking them..and that Corningware bakeware !! Waaaaa .... they are still with a friend who promised to get them in parts and pieces .. I hope she's listening :)

--> The hot water : Yeah, we do have geysers...but they are confined na... The US has this uncanny facility of providing hot water on the right side of the tap...even in the vanity ( never used it though :D)wait...is it on the left side?? I already have a poor memory of my life there... overwhelmed with the extreme details here...

--> And then what ? I miss the
Starbucks coffee (Cafe coffee day is trying hard to fill the gap),
The cold weather ( I used to say that I hate the winters there..but I think I already changed my mind... It's always hot in india ),
My car (Oh,..how I used to zoom on the expressways and freeways there... I will never forget the roads there )
Our gym ( The daily routine of dropping the kiddos at the kids club while we sweated out ... yeah, we still sweat here...but that's for another reason... stop raking your dirty minds.. I was talking about the weather here :D)
And my friends ( Is there any replacement to that?? Hmmm.. NO!)

But yeah, I definitely don't miss
The carpetted floor ( It's ok when you don't want broken things around your house, but other than that, it's such a dust-sucker... hated to clean it)
The do-it-all-by-yourself routine ( My indian maid already made an entry into my blog, so I don't need to mention why I love it here ..hehe)
The endless-spending of your time trying to clock in the Indian time so that we could chat up with our dear ones...
And more to mention... they will come later... still yet to explore the totality of an indian Zindagi :)

So, please try to note down what I miss from the US of A...am glad to pay the conversion provided you supply it to BBSR ... Ciao for now :)

PS : Did I mention the Return policy... Ssshhh... Don't tell anyone...But I managed to return some of the unused things I bought some months ago too... while I was winding my things back there... They simply don't ask you questions...and I wanted to prove that am a pure Desi by heart, by completely utilising it...
I REALLY MISS THAT ... (*a big sigh*)

Lots of love,
The Indian-at-heart yet craving-for-US girl.

The first morning !

Every night is followed with a morning... so my earlier post "The first night" should definitely be followed with this one...kya say ?

Ok..so what was I expecting from an India lifestyle?? Frankly, nothing. It's not that am too alien to household stuff... been managing a house of my own since I was 21 (Now, that wasn't a boast..so stop *rolling your eyes*). However, this is definitely the first time I set up home in the desi style. Definitely, lots of differences.

The morning wake-up call is not provided with a digital alarm clock. Naa...stop imagining roosters...they are so old-world... India is definitely developed!!
The wake-up call I was referring to is the maid, who comes for domestic help. Help!! She woke me up at 7am, and to think of it, I was dreaming about the luxury of a domestic maid, little knowing that I needed to sacrifice my morning sleep(I can never ever wake up before 8am...even when Teju had to go to school at 8.45am... coz people who know me also know that I don't retire until the night again.)

Anyway, thanks to the telugu maid....yesssssssss, ain't I lucky?? I don't need to suffer with the linguistic problems of which I had nightmares of. In fact, I took a crash course in Oriya from my daddy dearest(he spent a quality time of 30yrs of his early life in Orissa... JAI JAGANNATH!!). The crash course seems a waste now. People either know Hindi or English or Telugu... what a relief!!

And yeah, I was constantly reminding myself to not convert currency once back in India. But, I couldn't stop jumping with joy when I knew that I need to pay the maid a little over 10$ (of course, in INR... just converting it :D) for an entire month...Hmm...isnt that a luxury?? Now, all you ladies...stop clenching your teeth... If you are as ready as me to forgo your morning sleep... its totally worth to get back to an indian lifestyle... after all..we were born here..right ??

And then, with a routine my mom followed for thirty years : Boiling the milk, Having filter coffee, making "real" desi breakfast namely upma, idli etc... All this has started for me too. The routine of an Indian household lady. But, please...don't expect a pallu atop my head. I dress up in ethnic only for pictures and when I don't work. So, stop expecting a telugu serial here..

So, ciao my dear fellas... with me adjusting to the "Mitti and Dhool" of "Apna Desh"...Talking about pros and cons. Thank God, now I won't have my dad complaining that I never saw a sunrise in my entire lifetime.
(PS : I think I need to bribe the maid to come a little later in the day ...the indian ishhhttyyyle u see :D )