India, as always, was fabulous. Since this visit was primarily about Sureka and Kuvadia weddings, I felt a little zapped towards the end of the ten days. With every visit, Bombay becomes a little more alien and a little more my own. Can't quite explain it. In some ways, the wealth divide is even more visible and palpable in India than it ever was before. Or maybe now I view it with a very different perspective than I did on my previous visits. I'm acutely aware of the fact that the lifestyle I can afford on my visits to India might not be the same if I actually lived there.
My own impatience with the inefficiencies and mostly, the lack of common sense that majority of populace employ in their jobs left me a little frustrated. Dinner with N & M at their posh Worli apartment gave us yet another glimpse of the type of India that I could put my finger on in about five years from now. And that, didn't seem so bad. One thing is clear, to survive and build a life in Bombay, more than money, one needs a reliable network of "contacts." Sometimes, I get the sense that everyone in India is engaged in either doing someone else a favor or demanding one from someone. I watched this with my friends and even my dad. I wonder if it gets difficult to keep track of what moral equity is owed to someone else?
Criticism aside, I'd want to come back for two reasons, I think. One is for my parents - that' the primary motivation. I also want to get to know my in-laws a little better. My visit to Coimbatore was actually very fruitful because it felt that my sister-in-law and I were able to cross a boundary with each other and establish a sisterhood based on mutual observations (and just a tad bit of bitching!) of the Menon family. And believe it or not, I had a better time shopping in Coimbatore than I did in Bombay!
The other reason, is quite simply to prove it to myself that I can do it. That I can be just as successful, if not more, in India as I plan on being here in New York.
I have to admit that I came back profoundly changed from this trip to India. I was both inspired and influenced by my friends as I saw them balance domesticity with careers. I decided then to stop living like a college kid and live like the 27 year old successful woman that I am. So not only have I started cooking more proper meals at home (khichdi and chaal-walu bataka nu shaak anyone?!) but I've also committed to taking more care of myself. R was quite amazed with this sudden transformation in me. I explained to him that last year my priorities had been traveling and setting the foundation for Stanford and JWT.
And so it is.
My own impatience with the inefficiencies and mostly, the lack of common sense that majority of populace employ in their jobs left me a little frustrated. Dinner with N & M at their posh Worli apartment gave us yet another glimpse of the type of India that I could put my finger on in about five years from now. And that, didn't seem so bad. One thing is clear, to survive and build a life in Bombay, more than money, one needs a reliable network of "contacts." Sometimes, I get the sense that everyone in India is engaged in either doing someone else a favor or demanding one from someone. I watched this with my friends and even my dad. I wonder if it gets difficult to keep track of what moral equity is owed to someone else?
Criticism aside, I'd want to come back for two reasons, I think. One is for my parents - that' the primary motivation. I also want to get to know my in-laws a little better. My visit to Coimbatore was actually very fruitful because it felt that my sister-in-law and I were able to cross a boundary with each other and establish a sisterhood based on mutual observations (and just a tad bit of bitching!) of the Menon family. And believe it or not, I had a better time shopping in Coimbatore than I did in Bombay!
The other reason, is quite simply to prove it to myself that I can do it. That I can be just as successful, if not more, in India as I plan on being here in New York.
I have to admit that I came back profoundly changed from this trip to India. I was both inspired and influenced by my friends as I saw them balance domesticity with careers. I decided then to stop living like a college kid and live like the 27 year old successful woman that I am. So not only have I started cooking more proper meals at home (khichdi and chaal-walu bataka nu shaak anyone?!) but I've also committed to taking more care of myself. R was quite amazed with this sudden transformation in me. I explained to him that last year my priorities had been traveling and setting the foundation for Stanford and JWT.
And so it is.
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