Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Nostalgia

America reminds me of Home

Yesterday Seattle reached a record temperature of 88F/31C. It broke that record just today and reached 90F/32C. It is unbearably hot; and I am surprised. I had presumed that having spent 24 years of my life in a desert where 122F/50C is just as normal as rising of the sun, I had become inured to extreme hot temperatures. I was reminded of the scorching heat of Rajasthan.

The night was warmer than ever and we couldn't get sleep. The best we could do was to open the window and let the breeze, meager though it was, come in. I was reminded of the night outs on the roof, under the night sky, and air as cool and fresh as it could be.

The otherwise uninterrupted sleep was sometimes encroached upon by the cacophony of high speed cars on the highway. I was reminded of the dogs barking (and crying) right after midnight on the street outside my house. How sweet that was! At least now it seems so. I couldn't resist a chuckle, in slumber though I was.

Before the alarm clock could, the noisy bulldozer and crane and the even noisier workers at the construction site woke me up. We have been taught to say our prayers before starting the day. All I could say was #%$%&&!!. And again, I was reminded of the chirping of wonderful little cute birds that would convey a beautiful new day, bells in the nearby temple ringing a blessing to the ears, and the conventional cock-a-doodle-doo of the rooster in our Kerala house.

And similarly, the Wednesday trips to Ganesh temple have been replaced by unending net surfing. The respecting titles 'aunt' and 'uncle' of respectable ages have been replaced by Mrs. Thomson and Mr. Right of equally respectable ages. That feeling of kinship for fellow Indians has been replaced with side-glances of 'yet another Indian working with Microsoft'.

Those were the days... Sigh!

5 comments:

  1. yet another Indian asking to be a member of some sort of amway or quickstar ;)

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  2. welll quite a story common across onboard :P

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  3. A very common feeling for NRIs...

    nice thought,will be waiting for the next one..:):)

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  4. Quite liked the comparisons... so true ya.. miss INDIA!! :(

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