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When I first found out that I would have to leave the US and go to India, I was furious. I fought with everyone, from my wife to my parents, and even my future in-laws. Anything to avoid dealing with the hard facts. Two days ago, when we were driving around, I was reminiscing about my year in India and something hit me. I was actually very fortunate. Not in a generic "I got to experience things" way, which I do believe in to a certain level, but in a more tangible way as well. You see, I had to leave the US because I couldn't get an H1 visa in the lottery. But I still had a job, the job I'd been hired for, the job in Pune. Imagine if I was hired for a US position as I left college. And after working for an year in that job I didn't get my visa. I would have had to leave to India with no job in my hand. I would have been miserable. The way it played out, I had a job, my flight to India was paid for, and even a lot of my luggage was shipped for free.

I have always considered myself the luckiest person in the world. Again, not in an abstract way, but with the knowledge that things happened to me that were so improbable and yet so wonderful. So it's not hard for me to see the silver lining in this "vanavasam".

I really enjoyed keeping this blog. In many ways this is what helped me keep my sanity. I hope the loyal readers have enjoyed reading it as well. I will leave with this thought - the future is never as bad as you fear it. It however can be much better than you dream.

Looking back at the early entries (Things I am going to miss in the US)

Here's a look at what I thought I'd miss in the US and what really happened.

• 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.")
• This I really did miss like crazy. But then again, maybe it was best that I avoided watching the Longhorns followed by the Colts.
  

• 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.
• Again, I missed this too and regretted it.
  

• 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.
• Even I couldn't have predicted how bad I missed this. Not only was I not allowed to pull any multiples, the tickets were expensive and the food even more so. DISLIKE!
  

(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.
• Yes, the air wasn't clean. Particularly in Pune where it was full of dust and smoke.
  
2. Absolute independence - Personalized transport, 24-hour stores, ability to do almost all transactions online.
• Probably the worst. I was on the money with this prediction.
  
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 ...
• I would have exchanged nuance for any discussion but that didn't happen either.
  
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.
• Hmm, call me crazy but this didn't bother me too much. Maybe because I didn't let it bother me. Or maybe I'm misremembering.

Overall the bad was as bad as it could be. No surprise there at all. But I will say that the wonderful surprise was the good, which I did not see coming at all.