Made in India

It always puzzled me when people went out of India. They never seemed to go away. Initially there would be the endless contacting of other Indians 'abroad'. Information collection goes to such heights, I know people who know a lot about a hundred countries without as much as a single stamp in their passport. Traveling without leaving home.

Now sadly, and somewhat self-reassuringly, I find myself in the same spot. Leaving the country. But am I going away? No! I have a piece of everything only we can know and understand.

Such as this,


and this..


or maybe this.


Sometimes, I think where would be the time to use all this Indian-ness. But who cares? As long as the scene around speaks even a mustard grain's worth (there I go again) of homeliness...a thousand miles away is so far and yet may feel so near.

My friend's mother told me last week "Do you know Togree bELe (Tur gram) is going out of stock in the US!". This news could not have been more reliable even if the US Agri Department had personally phoned to tell me. But there it was. I had to do something. So I ask what I needed to do.

"Simple, take 20 kilos with you. Three of our neighbours left last week and did the same. You would not want to drive 25 miles, stand in a 3 hour queue and manage to buy only 3 kilos of Tur there would you!?"

Ok, now I am really wondering how many tons of Togree, rice, jeera and methi, strainers and shaavige presses are being carried by a Boeing 777 leaving Bangalore at this moment.

Are we grateful enough to the chaps at Homeland Security at the 'Foreign' country for letting us whisk through our entire existences hidden in 50 kilos of jam packed trolleys? Maybe we should all get the customs officers a bottle of Hogplum pickle the next time we go. Maybe even a kilo of Togree.


The Eagles must have had India in mind when they crooned:
"You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave..."!

I'm off now; for my kaapi is waiting..