First Glimpse of India
Dear Captain D,
I reached India on 26 Feb afternoon. I was eager to get first glimpse of the land where it all started. This was where I could meet people who claim to have seen me growing as man from boy. This was where I was empowered to fly across oceans to reach the land people call dreamland.
Somehow, I am strange human being. Sometimes I wonder if I am human. Anyway, that is not the pt. I had not felt anything like awesome when I landed in JFK exactly a yr ago. May be because on my way I had seen Paris and got a glimpse of what a international airport should be.
Hence It amuses me how I felt ashamed when I landed in Mumbai. Our Airport does not even stand in comparison of any domestic airport. I felt as if we are way behind in infrastructure. All the talk of India shining that we used to have ( at least Ganya, Inzi bhai & I used to have) look distinct memory. How can our travel & tourism industry expect to flourish when we give such clumsy overlook of our country to foreign tourists.
My parents were at airport to see me. I was pleased to meet my sisters, Jijus and of course my mom. Not that I was pleased to meet my father, but we shared different kind of relationship. More often than not, we never get into emotional kind of stuff. Both of us can control our emotion. In fact whatever I have seen him bit emotional is in front of his children as they grew up and I heard a lot abt his crying from my mom. Can I refer to her as Aai? It just brings her more closer. :-))
So there she was, waiting for me at the airport crowd, as I also saw Somu's friend Raj and wanted to settle account with him by handing over his laptop. Aai was trying to tell me to grab younger sis's kid ( younger my elder sisters, I am the youngest in house) as to show my eagerness. I do not like to show off my emotion in public and hence wanted to get rid of Raj. Finally, I met my Granny first. She was one happy soul. You know why? She later told aai that she was glad I recognized her and hugged her. ( Typical of me, as a young kid my mom taught me to meet elders in house first and follow the hierarchy. It has grown into a habit.)
Meanwhile I heard my sis whispering to aai that she does mind and she has explained to my jiju that I do not like children until they have sense of their timings. ( Urination, case of bad experience with elder sis's kid. In fact I was so strict abt this one, that my eldest niece always used to ask me to accompany her despite the presence of her mother at that time. So u see I am same as office even at home. :-) ). Despite listening and I continued to greet people from oldest to youngest. My nephew had many stories to share with me. We continued talking till I said goodbye to them.
My sis wanted me to spend some time with them. But I knew they came early in morning. In fact they had reached around 7 AM in Mumbai. They went to Juhu choupati since we do not have any close relative. (Actually we might have, but aai knows I do not want to disturb people and since I was foreign return, my wishes were taken in account.) So I wanted them to go home early. Had to control all emotional stuff for practical reality. Those who are employed had taken a leave for next day, while self employed ones were ready for forfeit a day’s wages. I also had to go to office next day.
I found the rates have increased more rapidly in India. A simple breakfast costs around 15-20 bucks. I think we will loose the cost advantage very soon.
Everything else in India remains same. Chal, will write to you later.
- Bhuga
P.S. Did I mentioned to you abt my hairs. As I expected my father wanted me to trim them. Usually whenever he used to ask me something to do, the whole janata used to be with him. He had credentials. Though I still do not think that I did something great by working in US, everyone else thinks so. Hence my wishes were respected and my father was asked if “he had come to airport throughout his life earlier?” TO his negative answer there were assertive replies of “Jaisa desh waise bhesh, besides the long hairs look suit him.” Wow! This is something I earned by working for a yr in US. Not that, I would have been forced to trim them , but yeah I would usually listened to him as the janata would have supported him.
I reached India on 26 Feb afternoon. I was eager to get first glimpse of the land where it all started. This was where I could meet people who claim to have seen me growing as man from boy. This was where I was empowered to fly across oceans to reach the land people call dreamland.
Somehow, I am strange human being. Sometimes I wonder if I am human. Anyway, that is not the pt. I had not felt anything like awesome when I landed in JFK exactly a yr ago. May be because on my way I had seen Paris and got a glimpse of what a international airport should be.
Hence It amuses me how I felt ashamed when I landed in Mumbai. Our Airport does not even stand in comparison of any domestic airport. I felt as if we are way behind in infrastructure. All the talk of India shining that we used to have ( at least Ganya, Inzi bhai & I used to have) look distinct memory. How can our travel & tourism industry expect to flourish when we give such clumsy overlook of our country to foreign tourists.
My parents were at airport to see me. I was pleased to meet my sisters, Jijus and of course my mom. Not that I was pleased to meet my father, but we shared different kind of relationship. More often than not, we never get into emotional kind of stuff. Both of us can control our emotion. In fact whatever I have seen him bit emotional is in front of his children as they grew up and I heard a lot abt his crying from my mom. Can I refer to her as Aai? It just brings her more closer. :-))
So there she was, waiting for me at the airport crowd, as I also saw Somu's friend Raj and wanted to settle account with him by handing over his laptop. Aai was trying to tell me to grab younger sis's kid ( younger my elder sisters, I am the youngest in house) as to show my eagerness. I do not like to show off my emotion in public and hence wanted to get rid of Raj. Finally, I met my Granny first. She was one happy soul. You know why? She later told aai that she was glad I recognized her and hugged her. ( Typical of me, as a young kid my mom taught me to meet elders in house first and follow the hierarchy. It has grown into a habit.)
Meanwhile I heard my sis whispering to aai that she does mind and she has explained to my jiju that I do not like children until they have sense of their timings. ( Urination, case of bad experience with elder sis's kid. In fact I was so strict abt this one, that my eldest niece always used to ask me to accompany her despite the presence of her mother at that time. So u see I am same as office even at home. :-) ). Despite listening and I continued to greet people from oldest to youngest. My nephew had many stories to share with me. We continued talking till I said goodbye to them.
My sis wanted me to spend some time with them. But I knew they came early in morning. In fact they had reached around 7 AM in Mumbai. They went to Juhu choupati since we do not have any close relative. (Actually we might have, but aai knows I do not want to disturb people and since I was foreign return, my wishes were taken in account.) So I wanted them to go home early. Had to control all emotional stuff for practical reality. Those who are employed had taken a leave for next day, while self employed ones were ready for forfeit a day’s wages. I also had to go to office next day.
I found the rates have increased more rapidly in India. A simple breakfast costs around 15-20 bucks. I think we will loose the cost advantage very soon.
Everything else in India remains same. Chal, will write to you later.
- Bhuga
P.S. Did I mentioned to you abt my hairs. As I expected my father wanted me to trim them. Usually whenever he used to ask me something to do, the whole janata used to be with him. He had credentials. Though I still do not think that I did something great by working in US, everyone else thinks so. Hence my wishes were respected and my father was asked if “he had come to airport throughout his life earlier?” TO his negative answer there were assertive replies of “Jaisa desh waise bhesh, besides the long hairs look suit him.” Wow! This is something I earned by working for a yr in US. Not that, I would have been forced to trim them , but yeah I would usually listened to him as the janata would have supported him.
posted by bhuga at
12:00 PM
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