Just back from the states. This would be the best time to write something comparing the two great countries.
The journey back was smooth to say the least. Generally people complaint about Air-India as being late, not very comfortable etc. But not this time, not for me - It was a surprising early boarding, a very decent flight, along with the usual goodies like beautiful air hostess and nice Indian food. The domestic Indian-airlines flight was not that great, but OK (As soon as you step on to Indian land, you tend to expect discomforts, start to compromise - the great quality that keeps this nation going). By the nudging and overcrowding, the queueless-ness at the shuttle which takes us to the Indian airlines flight, I realized that I was indeed back in India.
Back to home town 30 minutes late - which is pretty good tolerance for a trip of 20 hours, in Indian terms. Suddenly it hit me in the back of my head - all the old friends, home made cooking, staying and working out of my own city, glorious public transport (virtually absent in the US), the dust and pollution, the crowds and traffic, auto rickshaws, the goods and bads - all coming back in a flash. There are all the things I expected to find. What I did not expect were the price raises on the day to day commodities - food items, restaurants, petrol (no more calling liquid as "Gas") and all that is essential for the masses. Last 2 years I have been out of India, prices have jumped 50-100% depending on the item.
Within US, I was fortunate to have moved to a southern city before moving back to India. From 10 deg C in upstate NY to a warm 30 deg C actually helped a lot when I came home to a 40 deg receding summer. Hopefully the peak summer is already past and temperatures should be going down from here on. Now that I am here, lot of catching up with old friends. Some fellas got married recently, got to visit them with some presents, new job here - lot of impressions to be made, should keep me busy for some time...
