Little Life

We all think about not thinking about little things, but isnt trying not to think about little things thinking about little things?

Little things are never little, its the little things that make big things big. So little things actually arent little, they are big.

Life is about little things, little things make up a big life.

Its the little things that matter the most in life and if you ever have your whole life flash in front of you in a second, little things are what you would surely see.

Pardesan wich desi

You would think visiting an Indian family abroad would be like enjoying a slice of home life in a strange land. Strangely enough, its never true.

I have observed Indians living here are even more traditonal than people back home. I always feel as if I have traveled back in time.

Its as if these people are stuck in a time warp from when they first came here or even before that.

I wonder if I stayed here long enough, any friends and family visiting from India would say the same thing about us.

I guess they cling even more to their own customs and traditions to preserve them from alien cultural influence, to create a safe haven, or a little India in their homes and they end up overcompensating for their otherwise Ameircanized ways.

People back home are no longer following every rule in the book as far as tradition goes, the rules are getting relaxed by the minute.

Its funny how I always thought second or third generation Indian-Americans would know much less about their regional customs but to my surprise, they are more Indian than I am :)

How in India its so fashionable to be modern, not to cling to orthodox practices and how we take pride if our family rules out an important custom in favour of something more practical, but obseving tradition is so important to Indian families here.

We are letting go of our cultural heritage little by little in India while these people here are working so hard to preserve it in their homes and hearts. Its heartening, really.

Well, I hope some of their ways rub onto us and we become a little more Indianized by the end of our stay here :) Bharat mata ki Jai!

What's in a title?

Never had a more leisurely year when I had absolutely nothing to do and all the time in the world.

Its strange, how when I didnt have a single minute to myself, I could always think of a hundred things to do if I had the time, but now that I actually can do all those things, I dont want to do them anymore.

I had a small scribble pad which went everywhere with me, where I used to write all ideas for new blog posts. I couldnt wait for the weekend when I would expand those ideas. Now, I forget the password to my blog sometimes, dont know why I dont have ideas any more. I guess boredom kills creativity.

Although the going has been really tough, something good has come out of it after all, what doesnt kill you makes you stronger, eh?

I am always thinking about ways to occupy my mind now, so I dont think about my situation, funny isnt it?

I must have watched about half a dozen sitcoms from pilot to finale, thanks to the timed recording option that comes with Dish TV here.

I had never watched more than one movie in a single day before( the current record is 4 :)), never have I read so many volumes, read so many magazines, been more up to date on news and current events, have exercised more or tried out new recipes ( and I thought I would never be able to cook a decent meal ever :) )

Life in Firangland-Aisa hi des hai mera jaisa des hai tera!

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.

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.

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.

Miles to go before I sleep!!

Jeewan kya hai, koi na jaane , jo jaane pacchtaye!!

I remember hearing this song many years ago. But the truth behind the words has started hitting me now in full blast.

As I go through my daily chores, my responsibilities and duties, life is what is passing by. I really dread the time, when I would have time at hand to think about the years gone by.

Would I have lived a worth while life by that time on which I would be able to look back with a sense of fulfilment and pride?

I have a long mental list of things I would want to do before I die. Other mundane activities keep me occupied all through the day. Days pass by in a haze turning into weeks and then months and soon years will fly by without my notice.

This list will keep growing and I will keep putting off things till a time when I would no longer be able to do them. That is my greatest fear.

I have devised an alternate game plan though. Deriving small pleasures out of my daily acitivities has become a way of life, rather I like to take it that way.

A beautiful sunset over the horizon of a polluted city, a smiling cherubic face of an infant among the hordes of daily commuters, a weirdly shaped cloud striking a beautiful contrast with an inky blue sky on a cloudy day, colors of buses forming a kaleidoscope of sorts in my office bus parking are some of the things that often leave a smile on my face making me wonder how many other such beautiful sights and sounds I had missed when I simply wasnt paying attention.