missing india..

Hi Weasly,

I feel everything wat u ve put.. u ve correctly put in points...

But as soon as I came to US, i feel kind of competition here.. Am feeling not at al peaceful.. My good old friend who came here jus for 3 months pretended to show jealous on me.. She was not at all interested to get back to India and as soon as she got back she started comparing everything with me.. I neither say her what car we own nor wat mobile i ve.. still she projects herself about her husband's new car and mobile gift which was given by him.. As she found the dollar increasing against INR, she said that we must be really having good life.. What ever I say, there used be some comment from her...

Another frnd who always compares with us is in US... Initially I thought, she is jus checking about my living like where did u guys go for week end and what did u do.. Only later i realised that she bugged her hubby to get exactly wat all I got..

When I saw frnds of only joy and happiness in India same has become a competition here.. So am still unclear if being outside India is boon or a curse...

 

Things that I love here which I've not experienced in India.


Domestic help is safe and steady in West. If you hire the service from professional cleaners, laundry helpers, kitchen assistants from an agency, they visit, finish their work and leave irrespective of your attendance at home (leave the keys at the concierge or agency). You don't have to worry about truant workers because it is the responsibility of the agency to provide you service of the day. You are introduced to your domestic help the first day and for a year or two you don't even know who is dusting, cleaning your house to welcome with fragrant waft in the evenings when you open that door. I'm not talking about corporate service apartments, personal service in your residence that you've to pay from your pocket (and worth) if you can afford. (Or may be there is nothing valuable in my house except some papers and tattered skirts to be robbed)

Broadcast television is excellent in the West. I was stunned the first few years on the broadcast tiering, prime-time content, amazing documentaries and dramas rivet you. You don't need satellite television for quality viewing. The freeview channels are backed by some of the best production houses delivering award-winning programs. You don't have to strive too hard to enhance "General Knowledge", learning is concomitant to entertainment.

Some things are ridiculously cheap here! Other things are funnily free here!
Library membership, commute newspapers , museums, galleries ..[free, free as air]

Service and content providers operate domestically based on your locale. Envy the Yankees for implementation of virtual libraries where you can download to your Amazon kindle, few technologies and operating models are far advanced in the West than in India. I'm not sure how whispernet and whispersync globally operate though. Some of the BBC repositories and youtube videos and not free/accessible in India.

When I get grocery spirited at times, I dash to the local store and gaze at the rind thickness of cheeses, flavours of the pastas, try to spot the difference between flans and tarts, and get amused trying to rote the names of different types of beans. There is variety, fresh & clean produce, every local supermarket is a giant warehouse to explore that I can spend 1-2 hours only in one aisle and each time i visit the store I notice something that I never spotted before. May be there is international market for food and merchandise in big cities in India but sheer size of Mediterranean, Caribbean, Cantonese aisles is any foodie's wide-eyed daymare.

Work is again a BIG factor. I'm too confident that I won't be recruited by a single firm in India if I were to interview , the only reason I survive here is because my interviewers give me a blank paper and pen and scribble some puzzles on the board and in a jocular manner ask me to solve them. Some more logical , analytic questions followed by 30 mins discussion on X-files , Justin Bieber, Titus Andronicus and pity on me and say - "Bring that waif in the team".

People in general —weeks, months, years have passed and even now I'm glad (blessed) that friends, colleagues correct my diction, pronunciation, mistakes. I'm afraid if it would be the same in India with all the uppity and complaisant crowd. Few weeks back I saw something in IL "smile internally", I had tremendous urge to suggest "you don't smile internally but inwardly". But I was too afraid for backlash and fortunately I don't fall victim to that as all my associates left , right take that liberty to waggle their finger at me when I foul.


Many of these factors are inconsequential in the bigger lattice of life amidst meddling MILs, scheming SILs, festivals, religion, society, Indian wear, ethnic celebrations, head-here-heart-there paradigm, yada but to me any time I think "What no Dr. Who anymore, hmm, let me think if I want to return"


thinkingsmiley

Again my perspective on life is different & my case is freewheeling where I can afford [1] to take decisions on whim to leave or stay with not much thought to return, experiment, or take a bag and leave for Kazakhstan. So I don't have to give a deep thought if I were to leave for India, be there next morning for good. But the above stated ones are few of the reasons keeping me grounded here.

:biggrin2:

[1] - afford not economically afford but in terms of adaptability afford to uproot and replant.

 

Hey dear

I understand what you are going thru, its painful when freidnds try and compare. But dont give this so much of importance ! Live your live to the fullest. People who compare and all will forever be in this race. There is no end to it !! Ill just give you one example, one of my relative masi (lets call her A) is very wealthy and another relative masi(lets call her B) is not so wealthy. I have seen them both from childhood. Maasi A is extremely well to do and is one of the richest family in her city, but in her race to be wealthy and comparisions, she somehwere forgot to live life, while masi B who is like middle class has so much fun with her husband and kids, go out on vacations, and because she dsnt compare and all, she has better relations with everyone. 10 years down the line I would want to be like her and not like the other one. I only retain frends who I feel are not into this comparing race! I know this gives me very less frends at the end of the day, but I am okay with having less frends than having ppl in my life who destroy my peace of mind. I am telling you I have cut my ties with pretty much all of them , I have one frend in germany, one in greece, and 2 in India. Thats it. I dont have frends here in US and I am okay with that ! And I am not even looking to make anymore frends. If the come along the way I am fine, but if they dont, I dont even need !! I hardly find time to do the things I like, if I have more people in my life I wudnt even have tym to do that !!