Musings..

A few random notes worth mention that have happened in the last couple of months.

>>> Haircuts cost hell here. It's a once-every-3-months ritual here, and I know of guys who push the intervals much wider. Went under the blade and paid for one haircut what I would have normally paid for haircuts in India for a good 5 years, and often with better results.

>>> Met a cabbie sometime ago enroute Covington. Nice guy, and very earnest. The conversation goes somewhat like this.

Cabbiebhai : Can I ask you a big something?
Me : Uh, sure (hoping he didn't mean a big tip).

Cabbiebhai : I am sorry if I sound wierd, but it's just that I've been kind of careless at school and never paid much attention ..
Me : Me neither.

Cabbiebhai (unmindful of my big mouth) : ..is it true that elephants travel the streets of India like cars and trucks here?
Me: Wohow! No saar, thanks to a certain gentleman by name Veerappan, am not sure we've left a lot of elephants in the forests either. And the roads are bad anyway, can't have the jumbos do any further damage.

Cabbiebhai : And is it true people have them and cobras for pets? I learn even kids are able to charm them to do stuff.
Me: :-o . There are people like me dead scared of cats and dogs even back home in India. We used to be a land of snake charmers no doubt, and we probably still are in some pockets, but saar, there is a lot more to India than just that.

Point was, wierd notions of Mera Bharat Mahaan still persist. On one hand we have us being looked at as a land that never 'evolved', and on the other side, of a country of techies who'd take away all Amreeki jobs. Am still not sure about what we exactly are, but I am certain we are somewhere in between, and for good. We still hold on to traditions and culture that modernists tend to look down upon, and at the same time we've been making good strides in some of the new fields as well. Talking of which, accounting for 1/6th of the population of this planet, it's hard not to find an Indian here in any dept. Like a certain Russell Peters says," Sooner or later, we are gonna hump you (the rest of the world, China being a pardner in crime)". The lessons in life continue.

Be right back.