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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.

Looking back at the early entries (Things I am looking forward to in India)

When I started the blog in July 2008, I wrote a few entries about what I'd miss in the US and what I'm looking forward to in India.

http://thedevilwentdowntopune.blogspot.com/2008/07/things-im-looking-forward-to.html

http://thedevilwentdowntopune.blogspot.com/2008/07/things-im-going-to-miss-in-us.html

Here's what I feel about them now (original writing in italics)

• 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.
• This was fantastic, but probably overrated as of now. Maybe because I'm living with my inlaws and eating Indian food everyday.
  

• 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.
• Yes, I can now recognize a lot more faces and for that I'm very happy.
  

• 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.
• Meh.
  

• 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.
• I didn't care much for this once I went to India. Hmm, maybe because of my cheapness. On the other hand, Indian gossip is shown in mainstream media, so maybe I didn't miss much.
  

• 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.
• Again, I didn't travel on trains as much as I'd like because Pune was much simpler to access by bus, and Chandigarh too far. But I did make a few trips which were fun, including a trip on Rajdhani, which was for 24 hours and kicked the train desire out of me!
  

• 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.
• This will hit me more once I walk into an Indian restaurant I suppose. But yeah, I really enjoyed the cheap food everywhere.
  

• 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) .
• The rain was overwhelming during the first few months. Soon it became a part of life, I suppose in a good 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.
• Wow, such a HUGE disappointment on this front. It was bad enough in Pune. In Chandigarh it was worse. ZERO intellectual debates. Sigh.
  

Things I "forgot"

Things that I "forgot": the wide open spaces, the fact that most people dress casual (maybe that's just an Austin thing), the polite customer service, the fact that the cashier gives you back your change down to the last penny, TV shows are actually live and you don't have to watch them by illegally downloading them, for that matter that Hulu is not blocked, you have to clean up after yourself since there are no maids, how the radar map on ForecastFox is specific to the state rather than the entire country, how I don't need socket adapters for my electronic appliances, the joy of washing machines and dryers that gives you clothes that are ready to wear.

But perhaps the biggest of them all - I forgot how quiet it is all day long. Entirely too spooky.

The end of an era (possibly)

It's been a hell of a time. 18 months. When I first heard I would have to live in India for a while I was in shock. I was in denial. I was pissed off as hell. But I did go. And while I wouldn't say "I would do it all over again", I definitely have learned a lot. About myself and my home country. I got to live in two cities that I had never visited before. Visited parts of the country that I didn't think I'd ever visit and met people that I wouldn't have met otherwise. Got to learn a LOT about Indian cultures that are not Telugu. Spent quality time with relatives, particularly my cousins.

The journey back was hell. I missed a piece of baggage that had ALL my certificates, about 2 kilos of silver, two gold coins, my camera, a couple of expensive gift cards and so on. Luckily it came home with a valuable lesson.

The first week back in Austin has been good. I have been driving the lady of the house crazy with my statements like "Oh wow, I forgot about ... " or "Oh man, I missed ...". She keeps saying, "It's only been 18 months, you can't possibly have forgotten all this stuff." Well I haven't forgotten as such. It's just new and fun.

Scary or sad?

(As I write these next few entries, I'm back in the US already. But I want to narrate a couple of incidents that happened during my last week there.)

As I finished my work with my bank on Friday, I waited outside for my dad to pick me up. I noticed a woman of about 30-35 walking toward me. She was thin, about average height, wearing a sari, with her mangalsutram prominently displayed in front. She walked up to me and said, in very good English, "Bhaiyya, can you do me a favor?" I said, "Well depends on what you need."

She went on to describe a fairly depressing tale (in a very weak voice). Apparently she had an inter-caste marriage, which caused her family to disown her. Her husband then ran away with a younger girl. She tried to go back to her family but they shut the gate in her face. Her young son keeps asking why grandpa won't talk to them. To make matters worse, doctors diagnosed her with cancer and she has only 6 months to live. Her son is crying because he recognizes she's going to be gone soon. Then she said something I didn't quite catch, but basically her landlord will let her take her stuff if she pays rent, and she is Rs. 300 short. So would I mind giving her that? "I am not some cheap woman, bhaiyya. I have an MBA. My b**tard husband, he put me in this position. I hate two things - lying and begging. And he made me do both, lying to my parents earlier, and now begging."

Now, the first thing anyone would think (as did I) is that she's a con artist. But the reason I wasn't so sure was because of her mangalsutram, which looked genuine, and because she spoke very good English. It was clear that she was Telugu, but she either assumed I was N. Indian, or she wanted to impress upon me that she wasn't some beggar, so she spoke entirely in English. Which probably meant that her story was true. So I had to make a decision. And as inhuman as it sounds, the calculation I made was - "I should give her atleast X so that I won't be an ass for ignoring a person in genuine trouble, and atmost Y so I won't look stupid if I realize later that she was lying." I ended up giving her Rs. 100.

I was aware of another possibility. That this was misdirection all along, and as soon as I gave her any amount, she would make a scene and try to imply that I was "paying her off" for something worse and blackmail me into paying more. So as soon as I gave her the Rs. 100 (which she took while still asking for more) I walked away and got into a bus, telling my dad over his cellphone that he didn't have to pick me up anymore.

Regardless, the whole incident made me feel very dirty and disgusted. At myself for not helping out more. At the woman's family and husband for behaving the way they did (assuming she was speaking the truth). And at the world for making me suspicious of everyone to the point where a person with truly genuine needs would not receive help because of the few rotten apples.

Raj Ghat

Did you know that at the concessions stall near Raj Ghat, they only sell Indian products? That means only Frooti, no Coke, Pepsi, etc. I guess Gandhiji's Swadeshi movement is still being carried out there.

As I might have mentioned here before, one of the big reasons I wanted to visit Delhi, particularly the historical parts, is because I'm reading this book on post-Independence India, and I've come to be more and fascinated with the history of the political leaders. So even though the "Raj Ghat" is not a "sexy" choice like Jantar Mantar or India Gate, I really wanted to pay my respects to the great man. On one hand I was really thrilled at the crowd there. Not only where there people from almost every state, there were people from almost every single country! A French couple was being chatted up in French by a desi guide. There was what looked to be an Iranian couple visiting the place. This is in addition to the numerous British and American tourists you see at all these tourist spots.

What was depressing was that everyone was treating this like any other tourist spot. "Smile" they kept saying as they stood in front of the actual samadhi. Smile? Come on, even Detective Pandurangarao had more sense in Chantabbai that you don't smile while posing in certain situations. And this is only the memorial of the father of the nation. Another guy, from Rajasthan, jumped over the barricade around the samadhi to pose right next to the marble and when the security guard finally caught him, he smiled shamelessly to say, "I was only trying to get close to Gandhiji." There was a huge crowd of school girls visiting the tourist sites all over Delhi that day, including Raj Ghat. One hand I was excited that kids were being taught a little bit of history, and I wanted to sit them down and tell them all about Gandhi. On the other hand I wanted to grab this fence-jumper and ask him what type of a message he's sending these kids with his antics.

The entire garden also contains the burial grounds of Devi Lal, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Nehru himself. But most people don't know this. And even more people don't even care. Which is OK by me. But I smiled as I suddenly pictured Gandhi sitting up there in Heaven with the others and laughing out loud as he counted the number of visitors to his samadhi versus the others. "What do we have today? I think I might hit the 50,000 mark before lunch. And what've you got, Indira? 23? Rajiv - 12? Devi Lal? People don't even know you! Ha ha ha"