Things I'm going to miss in the US

• Football - College and Pro. With the NBA, I'll still have access to the best part, the drama. But with football, I'll be missing a whole season.
  (This quote's been ringing in my head a lot - In "A few good men" when Tom Cruise tries to convince his client that he'll be home in six months, he says "Six months! It's nothing! It's a hockey season.")

• The Elections - This would have been a fun election to follow. I like both the candidates but they're so different. I'll miss the debates, the campaign ads etc. Theoretically I could catch them on the internet but it won't be the same.

• The multiplexing - Sure, there are multiplexes in India, but the people there are smart enough (or cheap enough) to have ushers at every screen, instead of one for the whole theatre. So no more jumping from show to show. For that matter with the low quality of movies (Bollywood, yuck!) and an almost guaranteed social life, I probably wouldn't want to do the hopping anyway. Nevertheless, I'll miss the two-fers, three-fers and the rare four-fers.
  

(The following are things I assume will not be easily available in India, I could be wrong)

1. Clean air - This is something I have gone accustomed to, so might be hard to do without.
2. Absolute independence - Personalized transport, 24-hour stores, ability to do almost all transactions online.
3. Nuance - I might miss this the most of all. Nuance and subtlety in opinion, music, movies. Too much of "You're either with us or against us". On the other hand ...
   
4. Adherence to lines (queues) - Even as recently as two years ago this was pretty bad, with a lot of jostling and shoving. And I suppose I'll be exchanging my road rage for line rage.
   

Things I'm looking forward to

In a recent survey conducted among my family members in Houston, it was determined that "Food" ranked as #1 in a "list of things you're passionate about". So I'll start with that -

• Food, veggie food at that - No more "Does this have meat in it?" or "No carne, no pollo" or "Can I substitute the chicken with tofu?" Everthing's veggie, the veggie dishes more so. That and the fact that I'll be eating "regular Indian food as opposed to fancy restaurant type food that all tastes the same.

• Cricket faces - I've been following cricket through the internet lately. It's very efficient but I am losing track of faces. The last time I watched Cricket consistently for a long period was in March 2007 when I was in India for a month. Hopefully now with the longer stay I'll get to see the faces (new faces) of not just Indian cricket but international players as well.
  

• Doing away with the awkward glancing at other Indian - If you're Indian, you know this still exists in the US. Recognizing another Indian and then looking away awkwardly. Well, seeing as I'll be surrounded by Indians, it won't be much of an issue. I guess I'll be swapping that for staring at non-Indian.

• Indian Film Magazines - Aah Filmfare, Cineblitz, how I've missed you guys. Don't worry, I'll be holding you in my arms soon. I can catch up all the made up gossip that is just so delicious.

• The train journey - The last time I travelled in a train, it was an a/c compartment, so I didn't really get to experience the rest. Atleast once I'd like to experience it again - the dirty floors, the magazines which you'd normally never even look at, the requests for lower berths, the illegal travellers who make your life a nuisance (especially if you have a side berth) and best of all, the food. Currently I'm working on a plan where I get sick atleast once by eating something in every train stop on one trip.
  

• Low costs - I suppose I'm not really that excited about this because I don't think things are really that cheap in India. But nevertheless, I'll definitely be getting a kick the first 30 times that I get a dosa and find out that it costs only Rs. 20, or a movie that costs only Rs. 40.
  

• Rain - Just the smell alone is worth three months of low speed internet. Not to mention the accompaniments - the warm snacks that go with the rain, the feeling of being sealed in (in a good way) . Of course, it also comes with a bunch of negatives, like being sealed in (in a bad way) .
  

• Indian Intelligensia - I used to meet these people when I first came to the US, people who were very opinionated about the US, the caste system, grobal politics, religion and felt strongly to debate for hours on end. After a while, I think they either can't stand being here (in the US) anymore and go to India or mellow out. Well, they'll still be waiting over there in India and that should make for a bunch of fun evenings when I'll be bombarded with argumetns about why it's a good thing for the country that someone like Laloo Prasad Yadav exists, or why the US hegemony is doomed to end any second now.
  

Coming to terms

"Always leave yourself an out" - Rounders

Well I ran out of my outs sometime in the middle of July 2008. You know those scenes in scary movies when someone walks gingerly into a creepy room and suddenly the door behind them slams shut, and soon all the windows and other doors slam shut too? And the person stares blankly for a while? That was me for a whole week. And then, in the midst of having a fight, I said some words which were repeated back to me - "I know that in 20 years this is not going to make a difference but ..." Well, the rest is not important. As long as I know that this is temporary, it doesn't matter much. So I very begrudgingly came to terms with the fact that I'll be moving to Pune for an year.

As I write this, the balance has shifted from "bad things about this trip" to "good things about this trip". I fully intend to enjoy this trip and hope to come back a better person.