Incredible India...

...Read the heading on a customs form passengers got to fill on the Air India flight.I don't know what annoyed me more- this attempt at advertisement on an official document or that the printing on the said document was smudged and blurry. A customs forms is serious business; you want people to take it in that spirit and not be put off by touristy hard-selling. And you certainly don't want first timers to the country to get a taste of the 'chalta hai' attitude on the flight itself. Please get good, legible prints, for God's sake!

Anyway, apart from this minor incident (to which I am over-reacting but I am wired that way), I had a pleasant journey and am enjoying being back in mera bharat. None of the things I was warned about caused me any worry. I bore the crazy Mumbai traffic with Buddha-like calm. As for the dust- well, it can always be dusted. I have specially welcomed the return to creature comforts like house-help and home parlours and mum-cooked meals. And I am quite relieved to not stick out like a very brown thumb in a crowd :P

No, the reverse-culture shock has come from another quarters. Just a few months of dealing with an efficient system has further sensitized me to all that we aren't. Even people from smaller, modest countries manage to score over us where professionalism is concerned (yes, even Mexico!) The problem seems to be because we are an extremely patient and tolerant race. Where else could it take over two years to hang a terrorist caught in the act? Where else would it take the country's central investigative agency so much time to come up with proofs in gruesome crimes very much in the public eye? And where else would a chief minister dare to get away with corruption claiming that his predecessors were corrupt too! Even the smallest of chores like dealing with the tailor or getting your personal system repaired have to be accompanied with a certain amount of haranguing.

Back home, people have wanted to know how it was to live in 'Amreeka'. After listening wide-eyed to my winter woes, they have all ubiquitously proclaimed India as the best place to live in any day! While I wanted nothing more than to agree with them wholeheartedly, I kept being troubled by the other comparisons.

While the government definitely needs a sharp kick in the pants, the masses also need to shake off their complacency. I am a proud Indian. Just like many of you out there. We might be living abroad but we yearn to be back. While we might lack the time or inclination or means to stage protests or fight elections, here is the least we can do: we have the power to demand- prompt action, good service and explanations for the lack of these too. And we need to use it. Our capacity for making do/adjusting is indeed incredible! Please adjust maadi no more!

A slew of bad movies- and a few rare gems

I have now been away from India long enough to feel emotionally about all things Indian. The sunshine and spice, I cannot do anything about. But thanks to a fast, streaming connection and ample free time, I can certainly make an effort to be on top of the latest in B-town. That is how I ended up watching Aisha and IHLS. Strange what boredom can do to a person of general good taste :P I feel obliged to say a few words of caution, maybe you'll learn from my mistakes :p
Aisha: A word of advice to all those who think they can make chick flicks. Chicks have brains too, you know. They will ogle at nice clothes but 2.5 hours is too long a time to ogle at clothes. Some kind of a plot would have been appreciated.
I Hate Love Stories: Infact, any story which meanders through its screen time in such a vapid and aimless way. Music- forgettable. Acting- wooden. Romance- whatzzat? Comedy- Irritating (some scenes attempt to caricaturize K Jo's oldies to garner laughs. Bad idea-even those over-the-top scenes are far more watchable)
Anjaani Anjaani- I really should have gone to bed, 5 minutes into the movie, like the husb.
On the bright side, through my determined plodding into Indian movies,I discovered quiet gems in 'Outsourced' and 'Peepli Live'.
Outsourced is a small, witty movie about an American executive who has been shunted to India to manage a call centre. His initial desperation and ultimately, respect and affection for the country makes for a story which is entertaining and easy on the senses. I had avoided Peepli...thus far, wary of the grim subject it dealt with. Reviews from friends who had watched it had not been encouraging either. But we were in for a pleasant surprise. The movie deals with the serious subjects of farmer suicides and political incompetence efficiently and poignantly. Here was a subject which could easily have gotten weepy and despondent. That it refrains from doing so and doesn't get heavy is to the director's credit. Glad that this one wasn't relegated to the dusty backshelf of arthouse movies.
Wonder if I should plan a Bollywood Nite for my non-indian pals. It might be time to wean them off Shahrukh Khan and his antics :P
Sayonara till next month!

Christmas in Mexico

A post at last! A little too late and little too less considering that I have had so much to blog about this year. But, by some quirk, I have also had so little time. 2010 breezed past with a part of me constantly feeling guilty about not recording it in any way and the other part too caught up in the moment to care :) Anyhow, here is my usual year-end post.
After the rushed '2 days-2 nights' honeymoon, a proper vacation had always been on the cards. So with the temperatures dropping to new lows and my excitement at the snow fast trickling away, we headed to sunnier pastures. Christmas came and went like any other beautiful, gloriously sunny day in Mexico. There were no fir trees nor gifts, no plum cake nor wine. And definitely no snow. Nothing like I expected a Christmas in the West to be. Heard church bells toll in the distance and occasionally, carol-singing wafted through, but that was it. Most importantly, there was no pressure to make 'grown-up' decisions that I have come to associate with Christmas and the year-end. Making a break with habits/relationships that no longer made me happy...trying to change a course...
This time I took a long walk on the beach instead. Held hands. Complained a little but laughed a lot. Ate stone-fired, oven fresh pizzas with interesting toppings.(I specifically remember eggplants!) Gulped down margaritas. Made plans of no more significance than a day.
It isn't complacency. For making a marriage work is some work too! And professionally, I am starting at the beginning again... 'Miles to go before I sleep'! I think it is mostly graditude, that things turned out the way they did. :)
Cheers to new beginnings!

November

Pink to rust, green to gold
A red knit muffler, a fur lapelled coat.
Silence in the parks, just carpeted walks
The chirps are gone, just the cricket talks.
The sudden fondness for sun,the dappled warmth
That extra cup of tea, steaming bowls of broth.
Ephemeral mornings, the evening ennui-
And summer remains just a memory.

Being home

I cross the dewy grass to get to my favourite perch on the wood bench. It has been a long day and the prospect of silence tempts me.. I can see some committed joggers and dog walkers in the distance, but they don't venture onto the grass and I have the place to myself for now. The collective humming of the garden insects and the warm July evening is soporific..I am tempted to put down my pen and stretch on the bench.
Green. Quiet. Mingled scent of the summer evening damp and tall trees. Trees that I cannot identify. Though I know that a few of them definitely belong to the conifer family..Strains of an Indian song in my mind. Faint after-taste of tortilla chips lingering on my tongue.....A solitary squirrel bounding back and forth from this bench to the tree..I haven't brought my cellphone with me and I lose track of time. I have long broken the habit of carrying it around..the only facility I use is the airtelcallhome' really. A couple I don't know walk past and acknowledge me with a nod. Brethren in a strange land :)The fireflies start to glow..a sign that I should head home and see to dinner. And yet, the sunlight continues to linger..
We sit in silence some more..me and the unfamiliarity. I like this distance now, it keeps me from expectation to behave in a certain way..like an indulgence to a child. Eventually I'll blend..perhaps irrevocably. But for now, I am good, as they say :)
A distant roar of three dudes racing bikes shakes me out of my reverie and I head for home. Home and yet so far away from home..

The Jan post

I haven't made resolutions, I have been too distracted to.
I didn't notice the midnight seconds ticking away,I have had a quiet New Year's eve.
I haven't even bought myself a new diary, I don't seem to find the time to write.
I feel the difference though...in the hope I find with every dawn, in the way I scan my calendar.In the peace of every solitary evening...in the way things around me seem to move in tandem with my thoughts....

The Singles Anthem!

What I am listening to :))