All of these changes may not appear in everyone who has left India for greener pastures. But most of them do! • Even the most reticent and shy of men learn the art of hugging everyone: male or female, young or old, distant or close! First we learnt to shake hands, and now we are learning to hug. It won’t be too long before ‘namaste’ becomes outdated. • Having learnt to scrimp and save on dollars, spending in rupees seems like such fun. All NRI’s blow up loads of rupees when in India, just coz rupees don’t weigh that much on your conscience. • Municipal water is no longer any good for you. Even treated water isn’t. It has to be mineral water and nothing else. Some NRI’s bring supplies of a particular brand of mineral water when they visit India. • You fall sick as soon as you exit the airport terminal. The air you once you used to breathe day in and day out, is full of sickness and disease. • The gol guppas / paani puris that you once gorged on are too unhygienic for consumption. Even if you dare to brave them, your stomach will protest the very next day. • You suffer from intense exasperation and a bout of road rage every time you venture out to drive on Indian roads. The same roads, and the same people on the roads that you were once a part of, drive you crazy. • Teetotalers learn to enjoy their drink, vegetarians turn non-vegetarian, and non vegetarians learn to eat ‘the forbidden’ pork and beef. • You become over emotional about everything ‘back home’. • You become more expressive about your feelings for your parents/relatives when you visit. You realize how much you love them, and how important they are to you. • You yearn to preserve your culture and traditions in your adopted country. The customs that you once scoffed at, become an inherent part of your life now. You want to pass on your rich culture and traditions to the next generation. • Last but not the least, Indians are no longer ‘we’; Indians become ‘they’. Cheers Ramya
