I dont know if its the distance and unapproachability of USA from India that had made me think that it would be very different, but to my surprise, I never fail to find similarities.
Of course, the life style is bound to be different, but I am happy to see, India is catching up with the first world pretty fast.
It doesnt all look alien to me, like it would have, to people who came to settle here from India say even 5 years ago.
Most things do evoke a sense of Deja vu. Been there, done that.
US is bestowed with immense gifts from mother nature. It is a geograpically and physically diverse country. There are mighty mountains, beautiful coastline, long meandering riverbanks, vast green pastures.
I cannot help but think we have it all in India, its only magnified in scale here, given the size of US.
Then what makes US stand out as "THE" destination for the rest of the world?
Its the "Marketing", baby.
Old wine in a very attractive and sleek packaging.
You take the best of what India has to offer, clean it up thoroughly, throw in lots of facilities, lots of information centers, restrooms in the middle of nowhere, a coke vending machine at every nook and corner, super swank highways, humongous marketing efforts and lo, the concoction called "Amreeka" is at your service
At your service, hmm, not quite, as this is one thing, we Indians know better than anyone else in the civilized world. The customer care( I dont know why they even care to call it 'customer care') is non existent in most places here. Even big names falter in this aspect.
If you go to a small roadside corner shop in a tiny colony in a small city(or even village) in India, the shopkeeper would give you undivided attention, no matter how many other people he is attending to. He would have complete information about each and every product in his shack.
But if you ever happen to go to a mall here, make sure you have all the information you need, to make a purchase before hand, as the sales people will not know a thing.
But,the emergency response system here never ceases to amaze me.
There is no place that is remote, you might be miles away from civilization; cops, fire brigade and ambulance would still manage to reach you in less than 10 minutes in case of emergency.
And dont worry you Munna bhai MBBS types, they wont ask you to fill up any forms before admitting you to ER.
I wish there were a place in the world offering the best of both the worlds, now that would be Eutopia. India, you are nearly there. Good Luck.
Tuesday 18 November 2008
The high point of 2007
6th May,2007 was my parents' 25th Wedding anniversary. To mark the occasion , all of us decided to embark on a pilgrimage cum pleasure trip to Puri. I had this impression that the Jagannath temple is right on the sea shore. So I was pretty excited. though I wasn't quite right in thinking so, I wasn't completely wrong too..It was amazing.
On 4th june, we boarded a flight from Hyderabad to Bhubaneshwar. We were told we would be flying over Vishakhapatnam and the eastern coast for most of our journey.
As soon as the familiar Hussain sagar was out of view, we could make out the faint blue of Bay of Bengal in the distance. I had a hard time distinguishing the blue of the sea from the blue of the sky.
Though I have travelled a lot and a train journey across the country is a marvelous experience with blink-and-you-miss landscapes changing at an astronomical pace, the view from an airplane window never ceases to amaze me.
Soon after Vishakhapatnam, we were flying over the plains of Orissa. It was like a kaleidoscope of earthy browns, greens and reds. Red laterite soil contrasting beautifully with the golden of thatched roof tops like a big rangoli splashed over an infinite brown canvas.
The next day, enroute Puri, We were travelling along a very narrow yet smooth country side road. I though it cant get any better than this till we took a turn towards Puri when we reached the end of the road. It was the end because(!) there was the sea beyond. It was mesmerising. When we started towards Puri, it was like a scene straight out of a movie shot in exotic locations with sea flanking the road for a good 20 kms before we reached Puri.
I had never thought even a sleepy, remote and unknown town could be so beautiful yet untouched. Another thing that I had never seen before despite my numerous travel experiences was the Lagoons, small lakes cut off from the sea by sand. We had to cross several before we could reach the beach by the resort where we were putting up.
My friends were really surprised when we decided to go to Puri and not to other well known places like Goa. And many did not know Puri is on the sea shore. No wonder Puri still looks untouched. Maost Indians can tell you which towns in the USA are on the coast while they wont know a thing about India's long and bountifully bestowed coastline.
People flock to South Africa, Australia for this experience while a virgin sea side road exists right there in their back yard.
Luckily for us, it was a full moon night when we reached Puri.
With darkness all around and the roaring waves, moon rays on water was giving this illusion of an illuminated pathway to eternity, ships gleaming on the horizon like a big jeweled necklace of the ocean.
I have this feeling every time I visit a coastal place. Its so difficult to think that across the sea , there is another country,another race with a different culture, tradition. There is a different world out there.
Insignificance of an individual in the whole scheme of things comes to fore when I think of it, more so at night when the sea is at its majestic best.
I had the time of my life in Puri. After 3 days of basking in nature's lap, the return journey was uneventful as it always is.
On 4th june, we boarded a flight from Hyderabad to Bhubaneshwar. We were told we would be flying over Vishakhapatnam and the eastern coast for most of our journey.
As soon as the familiar Hussain sagar was out of view, we could make out the faint blue of Bay of Bengal in the distance. I had a hard time distinguishing the blue of the sea from the blue of the sky.
Though I have travelled a lot and a train journey across the country is a marvelous experience with blink-and-you-miss landscapes changing at an astronomical pace, the view from an airplane window never ceases to amaze me.
Soon after Vishakhapatnam, we were flying over the plains of Orissa. It was like a kaleidoscope of earthy browns, greens and reds. Red laterite soil contrasting beautifully with the golden of thatched roof tops like a big rangoli splashed over an infinite brown canvas.
The next day, enroute Puri, We were travelling along a very narrow yet smooth country side road. I though it cant get any better than this till we took a turn towards Puri when we reached the end of the road. It was the end because(!) there was the sea beyond. It was mesmerising. When we started towards Puri, it was like a scene straight out of a movie shot in exotic locations with sea flanking the road for a good 20 kms before we reached Puri.
I had never thought even a sleepy, remote and unknown town could be so beautiful yet untouched. Another thing that I had never seen before despite my numerous travel experiences was the Lagoons, small lakes cut off from the sea by sand. We had to cross several before we could reach the beach by the resort where we were putting up.
My friends were really surprised when we decided to go to Puri and not to other well known places like Goa. And many did not know Puri is on the sea shore. No wonder Puri still looks untouched. Maost Indians can tell you which towns in the USA are on the coast while they wont know a thing about India's long and bountifully bestowed coastline.
People flock to South Africa, Australia for this experience while a virgin sea side road exists right there in their back yard.
Luckily for us, it was a full moon night when we reached Puri.
With darkness all around and the roaring waves, moon rays on water was giving this illusion of an illuminated pathway to eternity, ships gleaming on the horizon like a big jeweled necklace of the ocean.
I have this feeling every time I visit a coastal place. Its so difficult to think that across the sea , there is another country,another race with a different culture, tradition. There is a different world out there.
Insignificance of an individual in the whole scheme of things comes to fore when I think of it, more so at night when the sea is at its majestic best.
I had the time of my life in Puri. After 3 days of basking in nature's lap, the return journey was uneventful as it always is.
The Story so Far
18th February , 1983- The most blessed day in my life, a little girl(that's me!) born to the most delightful family in the world.
My family being devout Shiva followers named their little bundle of joy(?(I like to believe that!!)) 'Aparna' after Goddess Parvati...but decided against it later as Punjabis have an uncanny knack of twisting hindu mythological names to certain strange sounding meaningless or mundane words(Parna in this case, that incidentaly means a rag in punjabi..).
So, all said and done, they finally decided to call me 'Aditi', the name of the eternal goddess, the mother of all devas( as the legend goes..) literally meaning unbound or infinite, figuratively, earth, sky, mother, woman, cow etc have been known as Aditi in hindu mythology.
My family being devout Shiva followers named their little bundle of joy(?(I like to believe that!!)) 'Aparna' after Goddess Parvati...but decided against it later as Punjabis have an uncanny knack of twisting hindu mythological names to certain strange sounding meaningless or mundane words(Parna in this case, that incidentaly means a rag in punjabi..).
So, all said and done, they finally decided to call me 'Aditi', the name of the eternal goddess, the mother of all devas( as the legend goes..) literally meaning unbound or infinite, figuratively, earth, sky, mother, woman, cow etc have been known as Aditi in hindu mythology.
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