Two more days – then back in India!

Been very busy reading the Sword of Truth series, and painfully waiting for the days to slip by. As the weather in Chicago gets colder and colder, I find myself thinking that I’m leaving for India not a moment too soon!

My wife and I have our arrival all planned out. We arrive early morning. Reach home and give mandatory (and much missed) love to doggy and other family members. Then we grab a few winks of sleep if possible, and head out for DOSA breakfast! Cheap dosas and philter kaapi with grumpy waiters who don’t expect tips. Did I mention that we’ll be going on a bike? Oh yes. It’s been well over a year since I sat on a bike and felt the hot humid air roasting my skin…..mmmmm

And I’ll be able to take walks in pajamas without having to layer myself in clothing like an onion. And having to peel off said layers when I get home. I can stroll up to my local chai waala for a cup of tea which I don’t need to tell him how to make with how much sugar and which tea leaves, at what temperature etc etc. And while strolling I can hear the crazy birds chirping and crows caawing and see people all around me instead of being cooped up in a room like a tomb.

And that’s just the beginning! My cycle will be waiting for me in case I want to go to Landmark or the Oxford book store or to the local cheap restaurant where I will gorge myself on spicy delicacies instead of the bland veggie stuff I’ve been trying to eat all this while. And of course if I fall sick I can go get my own medicines from the drug store without getting a “prescription”. Or if I do have to go to a doctor, I can get by with a Rs. 200 consultation fee instead of a $200 one!

My wife can then buy a “normal” unlocked and unsubsidized phone into which she can shove in the SIM card of her choice without being bound down to a two year contract. And as I walk down the street, I will see houses of different shapes and sizes – some of them deliciously unkept with crumbling walls and overgrown lawns instead of the sanitized pseudo fairyland I’ve gotten used to over the past 1.25 years. Never again will I have to “check the weather” before any outdoor activity and see the wind conditions!

And of course, there will be people on the road. Jobless old men squatting down, drinking tea, and even professionals coming out of their offices for a smoke or for lunch. And as evening dawns, my wife and I can go to Baskin robbins on our bike, and from there we can go to Spencer Plaza (a typical American mall it is NOT!) or even Marina beach – which I hear has been done up nicely in our absence. Or we can sit at home and order spicy goodies from our two or three local restaurants who know us over the phone and will ask us where we’ve been all this time!

In short, we’re going home baby!