Home coming- part 1

Well.. am back. Back in the u.s, back to my life. When SFO airport was nearing , I was surprised to find myself get excited seeing "at & t" appear on my phone.I did not realize until then, that I had missed U.S.The excitement was doubled up by the fact that my parents were with me and they were coming to u.s for the first time. I felt like I was the responsible one and I was bringing them to hand them over to my sister in California.Probably that was true.

I was in California for hardly a day.I left for Clemson the next day, in spite of my parents wanting me to stay back and spend quality time with family.I was in a hurry to leave, something was pulling me back home. Oops! I just called Clemson as home. Probably it is, now. This is where I live now,I work here, I cook here, I have responsibilities here.I have friends here. I have fun here. India is now vacation home.Let me tell you a secret-I got bored there towards the end of a month. I know many of you would instantly go "How mean! one year in the U.S and she' s already calling India as vacation home", while honestly you do think "actually yea.. it does get a little boring"Lemme explain.

When the flight is landing in Chennai airport, the adrenalin rush is unbelievable. You get down,finish customs,immigration, baggage claim and u rushhhhhhh to the arrival point. You see your parents standing there with anxiety and eagerness in their eyes.The minute you spot them,your heart sinks a little. They look a lot more older than they were when you lef.there are many more wrinkles on their faces, but the joy of seeing u does a decent job of covering those wrinkles.

The initial one week you get all the limelight you can ever get.Parents are extra loving,extra caring, extra liberal, extra cautious about where you go,how you go, what you eat.You feel like a princess/prince . Then comes the true US return experience.There is a standard set of "u.s return" things that you cannot miss.Its like a package tour.Things like the much-talked- about jet lag, the cute little surprise that you get from the good old bucket and mug, small size stainless steel tumblers that look lilliputian next to u.s size coffee mugs,the squeaky ceiling fans, the sight of paal pongifying on the gas stove,the sudden obsession with mineral water and mosquitoes, the right hand drive,the chuckle the taxi driver gives when you wear the seat belt, the familiar sounds of car/bike/auto horn, paalkaaran,paper kaaran,pitchaikaaran, paithyakaaran, pottikadai, isthri vandi and so on. You get in touch with friends and relatives. Relatives who were very normal until the previous time, all of a sudden start talking to you in English .

First law of Indo-American relations says that every family member in India has an equally irritating family member in the U.S and he/she lives in texas/california/Newyork/florida.If you live elsewhere, the next question is if its close to any of these 4 places. If your answer is no, I m sorry- you are" rejeeted ".It's a little weird and can get very annoying.

Kid cousins swarm in from everywhere watching you unpack,as you give out all those carefully selected,carefully packaged chocolates and gifts labelled with their names on it. I used to love it when my uncles and aunts used to give me gifts nicely packaged with my name on it. It didnt matter what was inside. As long as it was something that has a wrapper and my name on it, I was happy. Whoa! It was the best part of having US return cousins come over. ;)

Finally,meeting friends is the best part.Nothing s weird, nothing is new,nothing has changed. You fit in with ease, catch up on one anothers' lives and melt into good ol college days.There is no pretense, no extra anything because you are U.S return,no royal treatment,if you were the joker a year ago in the gang, you still are , probably even more now because you come from Bush's land. :) Nothing has changed.
This is worth all the money you spent on your ticket, all the late nights you spent looking for cheap India tickets, all the planning,packing.shopping,shipping that you had to do to go to India.
But this is just the first week. The remaining weeks- yet to come. :)