Things I really miss about India

Who doesn't miss their family, friends, food and favorite hang-outs?. Everyone does and they always will. Living in United States for few years now, have made me not miss them too much. I have found and accepted a different way of living. As such this a great place to live for most Indians. But there are things, however trivial, that cannot be substituted. The following are those things I still wish could still have even when I am quite aware that they may not mean the same thing anymore.

The morning news papers - I was made to read out loud the local newspapers everyday by my uncle as soon as I was old enough to read. His idea was that its a good way to learn the grammar. By doing that he made me a compulsive reader. Later when I was in college breakfast didn't taste the same without that morning newspaper. I remember holidays (there are lots of them in India) when newspaper was not printed and I felt like I was missing something. I became habitual reader of international column. But, first to be read was the sports page which was most part about Cricket and then internationals and then front page and then editorials. I miss the news about people I knew and news about the places I knew and grew up. News papers here in US seems to be about people I don't know and places I don't know. Online news sites or even ePapers doesn't come even close to having a big sheet of newspaper in front of me.

Festivals - Time of the year from Thanks-giving to Christmas is festive here alright, but not close to any festivals in India. It depends on where in India you come from to say how many festivals there are, But surely there are lots of them and they occur different times of the year at regular intervals. The best thing about the festivals was people are happy, even the grumpy ones. The atmosphere gets almost heavenly and they all forgot day=to-day life's trials and trivials, even though for a day. In small towns like mine just to going to the market place and see how festive the atmosphere was to be an experience in itself. Those big city (Bangalore) people will probably never get this one.

Veda/Bhagwatha/Gimini Bharatha Patayana - I know, this sounds too Brahamnistic which I am not. This one may also be a bit nostalgic but this is something I really miss. We had an old Iyengar couple stay right in front of our house. The old lady did the recital of the one of the Vedas/Bhagwathas/Gimini Bharatha (close to what "mantra" means for most Americans but not exactly) every day between breakfast and lunch. We called her 'HeDuru Mane Ajji' and she exactly looked like M. S. Subbalaksmi (another Iyengar of course). She read the recitals out loud which we could hear even at the back of our house. As I was educated in a school where all those things were thought I knew what she read. I can still remember what days she read them. She did read them on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Here in US, once in a while when I take a weekday off of work and stay in my apartment till noon, I listen to similar things on the net. That's how much I miss it.

People on the streets - Did you Americans know its O.K. to have people walking on the street in a non-city setting? In sub-urban America you rarely see people walking on the street, In India you have to search for a place where there are no people. Why do I miss seeing people on the street? Because I think the place is alive when people are walking about. It makes me feel I am not the only piece of sh** on that stretch of the road who is having a hard day. Seeing other people in public, walking or doing whatever they do, puts things in perspective. I don't have to go to local mall to see if rest of the town is alive, just taking a walk for 5 minutes from my house I will see more people than I can ever see at Wall-mart the whole of a Saturday afternoon.

Hanging out with friends on street side - Going to a mall to hang out with friends is good. But, just to hang out with friends on a street corner or near the entrance to the stadium where we played Cricket or on the street where street vendors sold evening snacks (chaat) or near entrance to our college campus. To while away time on the street-side stores drinking tea with your buddies was as much a part of the day as anything else we did for fun.

Riding my motorcycle - There is a whole new way of transportation in most of India. Instead of driving from point A to point B at 50 miles per hour here, Its complete different experience riding my motorcycle at 30 miles per hour to get around anywhere. Of course I am not talking about big city traffic-jams. But just to ride motorcycle at that laid-back speed instead of flying at great speeds is more relaxing. (I know it sucks when it comes to going to work everyday that way)