Gentle reminders everyday..

People, its a bit weird but many things around here remind me of my home country. As much as it might come across as being home sick, I am not.

Consider these facts:

• My neighbours house has a huge stained glass window with a colourful 'Om' painted on it.. the Sanskrit letter version.

• A lady takes a walk every morning wearing bright red and orange salwar kameez. She's African-American.

• The 2 nearest buffet restaurants to my place are Sitar, and New Delhi.

• Today I saw a scooter parked in the street leading to school. From behind I assumed it must be an Italian vespa (which are pretty common), but still I was not convinced so I looked closer in the front. It was a Bajaj Chetak.

• Everytime I enter the library, the security guy..a Black American who checks my ID looks at me and says "toomar naam kayeha?" I smile at him and correct him "Tumhara naam kya he" .. He is learning 'Heendi', cos it's his dream to save enough money and visit India one day. Last week I left him with a sheet of paper, with 2 simple sentences in hindi, and their translation in english.. I told him I'd write a new line everytime i drop by...he was thrilled.

• There is a Russian looking couple near campus. They both wear pagree's and silk robes and the guy even sports a Sardar beard. Wonder if they visited India recently and decided to convert.

• Tomorrow (23rd) is the Great Festival of India in Philly.. many rathas of Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra will be paraded on streets along with dancing and food.....see this http://www.festivalofindia.org/index.html
  

BTW, here are some pictures of Philly.. in and around home.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92918840@N00/