Monday, November 22, 2010

Notes from traveller's notebook

No one asked me to write a comparison list between India and USA but that is precisely what  I did for the first few days. Before you jump in, it wasn't dirt/lack of cleanliness/ stench of you know what that hits you the moment you land in Madras(only madras airport has this distinction neither Bangalore nor Mumbai). The only time I ever felt that was on my first ever trip back home.

But there were various things, mostly I kept missing my home(not the country USA) just my home, my dirty home! Ofcourse, that changed. When I left India, I didnt want to leave.

One of the items that shocked me which I find silly now was when I showed a printer model on Amazon to the dealer he said you cant expect what is in  'some'(!) US website here. Thing is, you get so many things in India that sometimes when they aren't  the same across the border it shocks me.

The whole printer episode makes me wonder how my friends whose morning cup of filter coffee is edealinfo/fatwallet will survive if they head back!

Since every one kept asking us if we have gone to Express mall, we went there only to find the same brands that you get in US at much higher price on much older items. It makes no sense. Now, why would I want to shop there?

This is only a note for me, but remember there is never a need to step out of that area that my parent's reside right now. Every damn shop has a branch there.

Pavbhaji from where I enjoy it the most, cutlet from where I like it the most, food at annalakshmi, sangeetha's parotta with side dish have all been had.

This surprised me and might sound 'pethal' to most people but I found the madras traffic much better than 2 years ago. Ofcourse with no U's in most places it makes sense.

Obama mania was on when I was there, the last time I heard his name so much was during the election time in US and that was lot more balanced than the uniform praise/fanfare Indian media piled on a man who took away 10billion dollars from a developing country and gave nothing in return. As my brother wondered why would any body from India support a Democrat.

My dad kept switching to news channels and after few days I agreed that it was the most interesting set of channels with far better drama.

A.Raja looked like a joker but ofcourse the joke is on us.

It takes hardly 10 mins to get out of the airport from the time you get out of the plane both in India and USA - this is when you enter a country - immigration and custom check included. But it takes minimum an hour or 2 get into a plane!

5 comments:

  1. http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2010/11/see-people.html

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  2. did you listen to the tapes between nira n everyone?

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  3. Praveen: that is a journalist point of view? may be she hasnt been in the thick of things!

    Saya: ofcourse:) nice past time on the weekend.

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  4. I have made numerous trips back home, but end up being HOMESICK( my own home in US) after a week or so. And just as you said, it is always tough when u leave India, parents, sisters.. :(

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  5. I am homesick(of indian home) now:)
    My brothers stay here but parents make up a huge part of home, right?

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