Tuesday, June 19, 2012

One year In a nut shell.

September 24, 2011- adieu to my job.Conversation with myself...
Did I enjoy doing technical work?
No.
Did I have a passion?
No.
Did I work for the sake of working after Engineering?
Yes.
Will I do it again, or rather sit at home?
Sit at home.
Yay, now guilt free.

Sept 25 to sept 28 , 2011- shower of advices from fat , middle aged , skimpy saree wearing aunty on upholding indian culture abroad, cooking and eating south indian food, Worshipping husband and god alike.
My response-
Dear aunty,
I would rather appreciate wearing shorts and a t shirt and not show my not so ugly belly button, than wear a skimpy synthetic saree like yours that flies in all directions showing faded inskirt with tattered ends, and a belly button that is as wide as a man hole. South Indian food- S does not like rice. We have rice in all forms put together like once a week. When i was back in India , I was pretty confused with my roots in south India. Both of us are too lazy to cook an elaborate meal for the two of us and eat left overs. We prefer fresh cooking and eating, that is difficult to attain in sambar, rasam, kootu and rice. Sorry aunty.
S likes me to treat him like a friend. And he is an athiest, me an agnostic, a nasty combination for godly talks or worship. Today, there was a power outage due to thunderstorms last night, we did not have a match box at home. Both of us dont smoke , and dont light diya either. For once, I regretted not being god fearing. Hmph.
Sorry again aunty, but we are better off on our own. *arrogant smirk*.

sept 28 till date- there are so many things about america which make me say,'wish this were in India'. The roads, the discipline of keeping them clean, the fear of law and utmost devotion to it etc. it often makes me wonder, where did we slip? It is just not correct to blame the politicians alone. The moral fabric has to be corrected from the last few decades and last few generations.
The non judgemental attitude of the people is amazing. I can freely walk on the roads with ill fitting clothes, mismatched shoes , unkempt hair , zero jewellery. I wont be judged at all. In india, i will be looked down upon as a parasite. Does this have to do with the culture? Not clear either.
The thing called do-it-yourself. I cannot imagine having a maid, cook, Gardener, handy man etc. you tube is the guru who teaches how to do stuff . There are dedicated hardware shops that help and guide me get the raw materials. I love it. I dont think this will ever happen in india as the labour is cheap and people are lazy and give the pretext of not having time.
I do miss the colors, the streets buzzng with people, the hospitality,the feel of "I,m home".



4 comments:

Jack said...

Preeti,

Nice update. You seem to be settling down well in new role as well as place. I agree there is a lot of cultural difference between the two countries. Hope and pray that both of you have many many happy years of togetherness.

Take care

Raja said...

Hi Preethi,

I am one of the silent reader of your blogs and i dont even remember how i came to your page. :) Never commented in any blogs till now. One point which you mentioned in your blog made me do this. "The non judgemental attitude of the people is amazing." Very very true statement. Appreciate it. We talk so much about culture in India and many time i felt that there is no human value. I will always think of our bus drivers who sit near so hot engine when its 100F outside. They are also humans. Sorry for so big comment and final words. Keep writing!!!

Prasun Guha said...

At-last after long wait...

Unknown said...

hey,

welcome back aunty[thats what u r now that u r married:)]...was missing your rants loads..

totally agree with ur assessment of india vs US...

drop by when u have time...