Going to India

This is an email exchange I had today with Jayanto. A reader should read his email first which is at the bottom of this post!

well choche,

I can imagine what you feel. It must be sad to feel this way in a city you
grew up and spent the first 22 years in your life in! I can think back to
our last summer in delhi when we went here and there in your fiat, cursing
the heat, but still having tons of fun! We were so much at home then.

I don't know how I will be when I finally go to India. It has been 3 long
years, and I am more out of touch than you are. The other factors are that
like you said, we hardly know anyone there any more.

I want to think that I will be fine. I know Delhi has progressed a lot,
with many different things. But the basic nature is the same, which I can
identify with. I just need to get away from what I am used to here, and
that should do it. This is in my mind. The reality - only time will tell!

Having said all this, enjoy your time there. I know the heat makes it kind
of impossible to get out, and you have to find oases of cool air - it is
just a different idea to go into a cinema or a mall just to be in an AC, but
that is the ground reality there! Human body is amazing. Could you have
imagined surving Chicago winters while you lived in Delhi? It is just that
is easier to escape the elements here as compared to there.

In any case, it is hard for Jay to become Jayanto again :-))

Well, the free wifi is nice! And chicken tikka croissant sounds very nice.
So drink up the latte and have a good time at the wedding!

And I hope you enjoyed my ramblings!

Love
Middha.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jayanto Minocha"
To: "Rajul Aggarwal" ; "Prankul Middha"
Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2005 10:38 AM
Subject: latte, chicken tikka croissant and free wifi

Am currently sitting in this quasi-hip coffee shop in green park
market. Heck, even Starbucks ain't got free internet access. And a
Hillary Duff video playing in the background.

So to recap my India trip so far. Quite sad. Well, the trip hasn't been
that sad per se. But as I've said so many times, I really do get bored
when I visit "home" nowadays. Am that bothers me, causes guilt, and
pushes me into a mild depression.

It might just be due to the fact that this is the 3rd time that I'm in
Delhi within the last 18 months. But feel very out of sorts. Had to go
and buy a cardboard box today. Had no clue where to go. Went to a
hardware store (was thinking moving stuff implies Home Depot, which in
turn implies hardware stuff). Was informed to go to a kabadi shop.
Roamed around Munirka for 15-20 mins before I found one and purchased a
used one for 15 rs. Oh, reason for the search.. am planning to move a
substantial portion of my book collection back here.

And don't give me a hard time about being a firang. Already my
conscious is giving me a hard time as is.

And met Ravi and IP once. That's it. Sum total of people I'm in touch
with who're delhizens.

Well, I can go on rambling, but I guess I've already reached your
attention spans. So that's all for now.

-
Jayanto