The Indian Connection

There is a shop here which sells some limited quantities of Indian food products. A non entity almost a few months back, its the talk of the scant Indian community here now. Afterall, we get to enjoy cooking in a more desi way.I remember having seen a bottle of 'Dabur Amla Hair Oil' on the shelf counters and my eyes popping out with glee and exclaiming 'oye! indian oil'! . Somehow it gave me a sense of belonging, a sense of happiness since it struck a connection to my homeland. Imagine the same situation in India, Dabur Amla Hair oil on the shelf counter of a normal kirana store beside your house,would you even care to notice? Should I even ask the question? Funny how things are, places and situations exemplify the importance of a thing or a person and trends change according to them. Similar is the way I feel about my homeland now.

There are so many factors through my perspective that make India and us proud Indians. We have our cliched attributes, idiosyncracies, cultural bindings that we may or may not like, but we take pride in most of the elements that amalgamate to become what we call 'Indian'.

Life abroad seems more 'monochromatic' if poetic license may be used here. I dont completely intend to insinuate towards the colours of clothes that are preferred here (or the lack of it!), but there's no hullabaloo or the 'hungama' that was always the 'unwelcomed-welcomed' guest in most of the Indian households. Imagine a very normal, uneventful day, just walking down the roads or 'gully' beside our houses, there was a spectacle of life, filled with a spectrum of colours emoting various emotions at one go. The unruly rickshaw walas driving through the smallest patch of space they got, infuriating the troubled pedestrians who unabashedly blurt out expletives and that forms a conversation like a ping pong ball being thrown for a while. Amidst all this, the commotion that is felt is surprisingly a peaceful silence for an desi person. Its how life goes.


The element of humour also springs up, when I just recollected an incident. It elaborates how we tend to use our limited sources to their optimum. A rickshawalla (yes somehow rickshawallas seem more synonymous to India to me than anything else right now!) who had to turn right, and showed no signal as such but from somewhere I could see a faint right leg protruding out sideways followed by a sharp turn to the right. Overshadowing the disaster that could have followed, that is our 'ishtyle'.


The 'chalta hai' factor works wonders in our country. Its how half our country runs I guess.
Power cuts every 4 hours --> 'Chalta hai', garbage on the road --> 'Chalta Hai', potholes which look like craters on the roads --> 'Chalta hai', bird poops on your head --> Yep!'Chalta hai'. It is one of the strongest statements that can derive so much frustration in a person, yet, it has an abstruse message, to never take life too seriously.

Also, we have our own standards that form the pinnacle or nadir of acceptance. Like, if you are highly an etiquette-prone person, I'm not very sure if you'll fit well here. Modicum of manners is highly respected and is an acceptable standard rather than the most polished. For example, you can fart..slowly, you can burp..a little less loudly, you can snort...a little less noisily..WE understand! :D. But if you have impeccable tastes and are hoity-toity, you're basically weird. Sorry, but you are!

I also miss publicly eating rice with hands. (Yes I love it!). I don't mind trying it here, but then, the glares that will follow will make me sick to my stomach. For those people who look down upon rice being eaten with hands,I request you to try it once. Nobody forbids you from cleaning your hands before that, take rajma and rice and use the tips of your fingers to mix and take a 'laddoo-full' (desi measurement!)and try to savour the taste. It has a different sense of joy of its own.

In its entirety, India is definitely different. It has a blend of everything. It has colours, it has life, its messed up and weird. It's something we love to hate and hate to love. Its 'Ind-yeah' and I do miss it.