With today, S and I complete 1 year of moving back to India. Yaay!
Turns out, we are still lovin' it :-D.
Oh, the minuses are still there: the insanely hot summer, the no-rules-is-the-only-rule traffic, the number of hoops one sometimes needs to jump through to get basic services done, day-to-day living sometimes taking annoyingly more effort than what could be considered reasonable, very low understanding of the concept of privacy, lack of decent public libraries etc. etc.
But the pluses continue to outweigh them: being close to family and having the pleasure of being able to visit them as and when the mood strikes, the awesome food (Chennai has new restaurants sprouting every week and there are nice places offering delicious non-Indian food too), being able to afford household help, other friends making the decision to return to India too, celebrating Indian festivals and functions with gay abandon, being pleasantly surprised to find many of the products and services available abroad are either already here or are slowly making their way here and of course, the indescribably nice feeling of finally feeling "settled" and being at "home".
Considering I always wanted to eventually return to India since the time I set foot in the US, it is not surprising that my experience on my return has been overwhelmingly positive. I mean, if you see everything with rose-tinted glasses, everything will look good, right?
Still, even with a non-prejudiced view, I can honestly say that in spite of being highly frustrated at times, I still have not found minuses that cannot be worked around. And that the pluses still have not begun to lose their sheen.
Overall, I still think that moving back was a great decision.
Turns out, we are still lovin' it :-D.
Oh, the minuses are still there: the insanely hot summer, the no-rules-is-the-only-rule traffic, the number of hoops one sometimes needs to jump through to get basic services done, day-to-day living sometimes taking annoyingly more effort than what could be considered reasonable, very low understanding of the concept of privacy, lack of decent public libraries etc. etc.
But the pluses continue to outweigh them: being close to family and having the pleasure of being able to visit them as and when the mood strikes, the awesome food (Chennai has new restaurants sprouting every week and there are nice places offering delicious non-Indian food too), being able to afford household help, other friends making the decision to return to India too, celebrating Indian festivals and functions with gay abandon, being pleasantly surprised to find many of the products and services available abroad are either already here or are slowly making their way here and of course, the indescribably nice feeling of finally feeling "settled" and being at "home".
Considering I always wanted to eventually return to India since the time I set foot in the US, it is not surprising that my experience on my return has been overwhelmingly positive. I mean, if you see everything with rose-tinted glasses, everything will look good, right?
Still, even with a non-prejudiced view, I can honestly say that in spite of being highly frustrated at times, I still have not found minuses that cannot be worked around. And that the pluses still have not begun to lose their sheen.
Overall, I still think that moving back was a great decision.
9 comments:
Sure, same thoughts here. Car rental things, ATM's sprouting everywhere and ATM's accepting all bank cards, public transport convenience at any time are somethings i am fond about.
Wow. It is already one year!
Sumana - true!
Sindu - I can't believe it either!
Wow, I am really glad you like it back in Chennai.One thing I can agree with you is that - it all depends on your perspective since you had already made up your mind to return back to India from day one. There were few reason why I left India and they remain the same even till date. Even though the conveniences has increased in India, sometimes I really wonder if the fundamentals have changed in India? Corruption is at a longtime high, pollution and school politics, caste-ism unless you live in an absolute bubble may be it won't affect in anyway but ? One good thing is living close to the family which is priceless and indian holidays, they are the best. But I cannot deny the fact that even if I live for 50 years in US, I will be still be a stranger. :-)
Time flies indeed! Congrats! :--))
Reflections - I agree that there are some fundamental problems. But awareness among the public is definitely on the rise - things are changing - very, very, very slowly - but changing at least. So true - "even if I live 50 years in the US (or any other 'foreign' country for that matter), it will never feel like home" - that was the thinking which always left me with a cat on the wall, unsettled kind of feeling back in the US... I guess I am too much of a sentimental homebody :-).
SK - Thank you :-)!
Archana, Same here, I am home boy, I love my Chennai or Tamilnadu for that matter. Tomorrow what will happen I don't know but the more years we spend in a foreign land, the relationships or the connections just disappear. I guess as the saying goes, you take an Indian out of India but you cannot take India out of him.
Has it already been a year? Wow! I enjoyed your R2I posts so much, it felt a lot less to me :)
Reflections - so true, so true!
Saumya - even I can't believe it's been a year!
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