Update 1

It's been 10 days since we landed in India. A sometimes-hectic, sometimes-boring 10 days.
Biggest news of the last week is that we got admission for R in a good school in the city of Nizams. To answer the question many of you have asked, we'll be ultimately living in Hyderabad. The whole test/interview/admission thing is a whole different story that I will write about soon.
Now the next worry is to find a good place to stay. BTW, coming from Mumbai, rents in Hyderabad seem very reasonable. Just keeping my fingers crossed for finding the right place.

Before I forget, here are some thoughts from the top of my head:

1. Still getting used to seeing celebrities (film stars and sportstars) endorsing everything imaginable - from designer watches and clothes to biscuits, ballpens and underwear!
2. Can't understand why almost every commercial features kids, whether or not the product it's selling relates to kids. Insurance schemes, exterior paint and more, what do they have to do with children. It is so clear that ad agencies think most people can't resist cute kids. I beg to differ.
3. The traffic! OMG! I don't think I'll ever get used to the chaos called traffic; though I know I will. But I'm still not sure that I'll ever be able to drive here.
4. My 6-year-old is super excited about seeing 'street doggies', and 'COWS!' on the street.

I am just grateful that he is happy being here. Today he mentioned that our town in the US was 'boring' and that there are so many people to meet and play with here. Icing on the cake!

More later.

In Transit

Logging in from Seoul! Halfway home...

Must be a sign of getting old; am so exhausted already!

Seoul is a winter wonderland, totally blanketed in snow.

More when we reach Desh!

The Last Night

Tonight is the last night I will spend in this apartment, this town, this country and I don't want to go to sleep. We've been so busy clearing the place and packing our bags that it is sinking in only now that I will never again see my beloved local library again; never browse the shelves at the neighborhood Target store again, never see the school wall where my son's silhouette adorns a mural...

Well, they say never say never! After all many NRIs have gone to live in India only to come back to their adopted country again. I fervently hope that we're not among those. Not just for patriotic reasons but also for the sheer logistical nightmare that it is! At every move we throw away perfectly good stuff just because we can't take it all with us. Time after time, we settle down, form friendships, develop attachments to people and places, only to pick up our bags and move again. It has happened to us and a lot of others that we know. So, we hope that we don't have to do it all over again, no matter how good life has been here. This time, I want the move to be permanent...or at least, really long-term.

So here are the things that I am looking forward to once I go back to India:

1. Indian Clothes: I have always preferred Indian clothes over Western ones. Especially tailored outfits that fit my otherwise 'unfittable' shape! I am so excited about wearing colorful cottons with embroidery, block prints etc. etc. once again.
2. Setting up Home: We will be in a city with no close relatives around. So setting up home will be challenging but at the same time I expect to have a lot of fun buying stuff for the home and doing it up!
3. School Uniform: I'm waiting to see my son in a school uniform. Since there are no uniforms in public schools here, I can only imagine how he would look in a smart, tailored outfit.
4. Travelling in India: This is something I've always wanted to do. Now that we will be living in India, we can use long vacations for travelling and visiting the famous and not-so-famous places around the country.
5. Working Again: Probably the most important great thing about coming back to India. No legal restrictions about me working and earning a living. Though I enjoyed my time as a stay-at-home mom all these years, now I'm itching to go back to work. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I will add more to this list as more ideas hit me...

Almost Time...

We leave for India in less than two days. Note how I say "leave for India" and not "leave US". I've never been good at saying goodbyes. To be honest, I hate saying goodbyes. I usually don't get teary-eyed, no matter how much I know I'll miss someone/something/someplace. And that gets me all awkward ...that I'm not crying...Maybe someone has some kind of psychoanalysis for this kind of behavior, I don't know.

Anyway the point I'm trying to make is that I'd like to see our move as moving 'towards' something, rather than 'away from' something else. I guess its my way of lessening the impact of the realization that I may never ever return to the US. Not to live here, at least.

I had promised to write a list of the things I think I'd miss about the US once I'm in India. Here are few of them.

1. The weather: Most people love California for its warm weather. Well, here's someone who loves it when it is cold, or better still, rainy-stormy-cold! I hate hot weather and I loved summers here only after it cooled down in the evenings. So the cool temperatures; the clean, crisp air; the rains that make everything sparkly clean...I'm going to miss them.
2. Rainbows: I've always been a sucker for rainbows. As a child and even as an adult, every time it rained while the sun was out, I'd crane my neck to look for that nascent rainbow. And in the six years that I've lived in USA, I've seen more rainbows than I had seen in my entire life before! Once I saw one on the first day of the year; I took it as an omen of good things to come!
3. Driving: Driving for me is a simple means of getting from point A to point B. But even for someone like me, it is a great pleasure to listen to my favorite music and just cruise along without having to worry about too much traffic etc. I'm predicting that I won't have the courage to drive in the city traffic in India; so I guess I'm going to miss the leisurely drives here.
4. The people: Americans have been called rude, ugly and whatnot. But to me, they seem like happy, confident, considerate, and most importantly, non-interfering people. I love that I can wear sweats to the grocery store and not worry about "what will someone think?" Nor do I have to worry about being 'eve-teased' (that maddeningly euphemistic term for sexual harassment) That is something that gets my goat every time. (Of course, at my age such incidences reduce drastically, but that's not the point.)
5. The fact that all I have to do to see a majestic view of hills is to look out the window. And all the while living in the midst of civilization, not some remote place.
6. The TV shows: How could I forget them! I am SO hooked to shows like Law & Order, Medium, Monk, and more recently, The Good Wife etc. After these, I shudder to think of all the Saas Bahu serials on Indian TV. ( I used to shudder earlier too, but I'll shudder more now.)

OK, I think that's it for now. As a disclaimer, for anyone who doesn't know me very well, I love my country and I'm happy to be going back.

Next post, what I'm looking forward to...

Edited to add:

7. The Library: My most favorite place of all! Our local library is absolutely fantastic and I've made very good use of it over the past few years. For a long time in the beginning I couldn't get over the fact that there were so many books here and I could read them for FREE! Now, of course, the thought of leaving it saddens me.

Son of the Soil!

Almost everyone that I've talked to about our returning to India has asked me, "How's the little one taking it?" And then I hear stories of how some kids just refuse to go live in India. Of course, I also hear stories about how well most kids adjust once they are back.

To answer the question, so far my son has been very enthusiastic about the move. Maybe he's just excited about the people coming in to buy our household stuff, or about meeting his cousin back in India...I don't know but I am thanking my stars that this is not something I have to worry about...for now!

And by the way, he just floored me the other day. I was in his classroom and his teacher announced to the class that we were moving to India. One of the kids asked my son, "Why do you have to go back?" Without skipping a beat, very matter-of-factly, my son replied, "Because that is my country!"

I'm sure I stood a few inches taller after that!

Hope or Worry?

As we get ready to pack our bags and move back to India, I remember the words of another friend who moved back last year after a good 8 years in the US.

She said, "I'm preparing for the worst. I'm not going back thinking: 'Oh wow, I'm so thrilled to be back in India!' because I know it is going to be difficult, in the initial days at least." Now, a year later, completely and happily readjusted to life in India she credits her satisfaction to the fact that her expectations were low.

Sounds like a good plan, except that: I Am Thrilled About Going Back!! So what does it mean? Does it mean that I'm going to be sorely disappointed with the ground realities of living in India? Or will a positive attitude only help? To be clear, I am not all starry-eyed about the move. I know that it will be hard, especially now that we have to hunt for schools for the little guy, worry about finding maids, learn to handle curious/prying neighbours/relatives etc. etc. - things we didn't have to worry about before. And I know I'm going to miss a lot of things about life in the US. But still I am happy to be going back.

That can't be bad, can it?

In my next post I'm going to write my list of the things I'll miss when I leave the US...

Hum To Jaate Apne Gaon!

I have an announcement to make. (It's kind of like an excuse for not writing regularly here...)

After almost six years of living the US of A, we're going back apne desh! Very soon...

There are a whole lot of things I want to write about regarding the move: the fears,the hopes,the expectations, the excitement... Also the nitty-gritties of an international move...I hope to put it all down here. I have an interesting idea; I want to write down my impression of what I think it'll be like to live in India and then once I am actually there and settled down, I'd like to revisit those impressions and see how many of my fears and expectations came true.

I just hope to have the time and the discipline to actually do it.
Wish me luck!