Totally confused Firangi!

Technically, that’s what me and DH are. We don’t even have Firangi accents after having lived in the US for 9 and 12 yrs respectively. We are totally un American, nobody will call us Americans. We blend in pretty easily. We almost never have issues with our Nationality. I was just congratulating myself over it when I got into trouble. The nationalized back next door refused to let me open an account with them. Guess the reason? The manager wanted copies of every imaginable id proof and one of them happened to be the Passport which happened to be non-Indian. Well, I explained to the manager that I own an apartment here, my husband’s employers are pure desis, I have bank accounts in other Indian banks, I am an Overseas Indian Citizen and of course, that I won’t run away because I have a life here. That was all perfect but he still cannot give me the account.Phew… Finally, after some coaxing, he was willing to give me the account if I was introduced by an account holder. Thankfully, my good friend has an account there and we were able to open it. And we’ve had trouble getting a credit card as well. All is well that ends well but look at this http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=341670

The terrorists can get SBI credit cards but I have to run from pillar to post for bank accounts and credit cards. Now I’m totally confused. It reminds me of the time Mohammed Atta was granted an F1 Student Visa by the INS weeks after he rammed into the WTC and I was flagged for an FBI name check to clear before I was granted US Citizenship. Hmm my name sounded very fishy to the INS.My name  is one that does warranty a one year name check against every record INS ever had. INS you have true counterparts in India. I’ll never miss you!

This happens only in India….

The terror strike in Mumbai is shocking. It goes on to say, no matter where you are vigilance is essential. Indian politicians have a lot to learn from their US counterparts when it comes to standing up to terrorists. The NSG commandos are fighting it out for the country, the operations are still underway at the Taj hotel and Nariman house and all I can see on TV are politicians slinging mud at each other. All I can see are parties supporting themselves and defending their statements and of course trying to offend others. Today I have realized that a lot of good happens in this country but its politicians will never change. What is the message that each of you is giving out to the world? Come out on national TV and support the guys who are actually putting their life on the line trying to fight these terrorists. When 9/11 happened, I was in the US. I watched every TV channel for days together. Every American was with the Govt and I didn’t hear a single person utter “Intelligence Failure” on National TV until weeks later. The need of the hour is not to find the reason but to protect the Nation. A lot of talk and no action is what we have been seeing but I guess that’s Indian politics. India, wake up and go after the offenders.

After 9/11 New York came to a standstill, New Yorkers barely stepped out. Not only New York, the entire country came to a standstill and here I see a difference as well. We really need to applaud the spirit of the Mumbaikars. They are already on their feet, the local trains are already packed to the brim and everyone is nervously normal. This can also happen only in India. The Indian spirit is hard to break. Why can’t Indian politicians have the same spirit? Why can’t they buck up and stick to each other and show the outsiders what the Indian spirit truly is! Is this really wishful thinking……?

decisions are tough(keeping fingers crossed)…

A decision which is irreversible and impacts everyone in my life scares me. I generally put off such decisions indefinitely or leave it to DH. Poor DH takes the trouble of helping me out with suggestions and then gets an earful from me for not considering some minuscule possibility or overlooking something that was so important to me that I myself would not have paid attention to it for quite a while. Jokes aside, returning to India was one such difficult decision just because it impacted K’s future and she had no say in it. It did scare me at first and as always I did try to pass it on to DH. But then, we always knew in our hearts that we wanted to return. Both of us unanimously voiced our opinions on the pros of raising our precious daughter in India. There is one thing that really mattered to me and that was my family and their presence in K’s life. For that, I was willing to give up whatever it was that the future held for her in the US. I did feel guilty making the choice for her and also was apprehensive about her losing out on the opportunities that the land had to offer her. I was hoping that the choice we made was good. There is no right or wrong in this decision and whatever the case, we hoped it made a difference. And then, we packed up and left and for once I can say that I made the decision to move back and DH supported me fully in this decision….

Here we are away from the land of opportunities. I am now looking at the next generation Indians and feel like a fool for even thinking that K will be losing out. Kids in India these days have the same level of exposure and opportunities as kids anywhere in the world. More and more parents in India are able to afford giving their kids the extra edge. Lots of students are getting to travel abroad to widen their outlooks and also to study. Most schools thesedays emphasiseon extra curricular activities along with their curriculum and also focus on it at school so we don’t have to necessarily drive them from class to class  There are a multitude of options to choose from once it comes to activities – painting/art/music(both Indian and western), instrumental, Chinese maths, tae-kwon-do, karate, dance(all Indian forms and western), fun science classes and much more. There are a lot of outdoor fun activities that are catching up as well. Is there anything that K is missing out by coming back? I don’t see anything amiss. As an added bonus, she gets to see her aunt every week and her grandparents every month!
We will never know the true impact of our decision for at least two decades now but I’m hoping that whatever the loss per se in terms of opportunities are made up in terms of culture and family values. I would rather have her sacrifice a few opportunities and have her in a social setting that will give her a strong identity and a background that she can truly relate to.

From Hindi mein baat karo To Parle-vouz Français?

The best part of returning to India is the culture and heritage the kids imbibe without any special efforts from our part. Schooling in Bangalore or any Indian city is more than just education. They learn a lot about the country and its varied heritage, be it different languages or customs. And miraculously they do it all by just listening to their teachers or talking to friends. Little K has already started enquiring about the next “Holi” celebrations in our apartment community. She is excited about celebrating everything from New Year’s Eve to Holi to Independence Day to Diwali all the way upto Christmas with all her friends in the complex. She enjoyed the environment day celebrations, the highlight of which was a show with live snakes!

K is adjusting marvellously to school. She is also learning Hindi and to my surprise and dismay has already picked up a few words here and there. I have nothing against the national language, in fact, I’m proud of the fact that my six year old is able to chant ek, do, teen upto dus without a hitch. I’m also extremely pleased that she is enjoying in her new set up and is gaining a lot culturally. With all this, guess what I’m fretting about?  DH’s and my handy secret communication tool is going to go away in a few months and we need to find an alternative soon. We can’t get away with Hindi anymore and DH suggested learning French an alternative. Any suggestions?

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