Turn back time

Desi is me. My ideas of fun, of amusement, of work, of moving ahead in life and career, of thought itself! They are so typically Indian. They say you can take the desi out of India but can you take India out of the desi? I scream from the top of my lungs..NO!! Coz no matter how much we try, we are so in love with everything that is Indian that we really don't like the idea of separating ourselves from "desi-ness" if I may. And I find that I appreciate, love and respect my homeland much more now that I have managed to put 10,000 miles between us. Strange isn't it? Everything good in life is like health..you never know it's value till you lose it.

And I beg to differ from people who manage to put the same kind of distance and "comment" on the sad state of India. I absolutely despise the "liberated-souls" who says things like.."Things like blah blah will never change in India". I have just one thing to say to them..."Good you are here..India can use some crap-elimination".

In my mind, I have such a sweet picture of home! And call me an ignorant fool and a dreamer but home..sigh, is filled with irreplacable memories..the pakoras and samosas with chai on a rainy afternoon, the power cuts leaving all of us singing at the top of our voices on the terrace, the bike rides, barrista coffee, star gazing on the porch, bollywood, the soaps where the bahus never stop crying and the saas' never stop torturing, mom's repeated calls for dinner in a desparate attempt to get the family together only to lose out badly on majority vote to watch TV while eating, ohh those were the days!

One of the biggest wars used to begin when there would be a cricket match and a filmfare award show airing together!! My dad would turn into a kid fighting for the remote. But dad that he was..he always won and we would drag our grumpy faces into our rooms..hmmmphh..dictatorship..but as we grew older, the tables turned..!!

And how I crave for one miracle to get back that time. The innocence in the pleas for that new dress, the joy on the arrival of that first barbie, the excitement to bits that birthdays were arriving, the goosebumps while hiding in a oh-so-visible spot while playing hide-n-seek, the naive hatred towards why-the-holy-smokies-did -my-parents-pick-this-name-for-me then growing to love it..Oh the nostalgia..Oh the desparate wish to get things back the way they were and enjoy them just once again..Oh the wonderful things that my country has given me, Oh my sweet home..Oh my sweet paradise.