Indian Diaries: The Beachside Getaway

January 1, 2007 5:40 am: “No flight is taking off before noon. We are going to the airport to just sleep there.”

It is not a pleasant feeling to sleep for a couple of hours on the night of December 31 and catch a flight at 6:40 am on the first day of the year thereafter. What was frustrating is the fact that despite the heavy fog in Delhi, the flight was not delayed officially. The airline staff does not announce the status until an hour before take off- which meant that I did not have enough time to get to the airport in case the flight was really on time! But this morning was different- the visibility was down to ZERO at 5 am! Delhi seemed like a cold closed room full of artificial smoke machines and though we reached on time for the boarding, the flight delay was imminent.

The last week or so had been physically tiring and mentally draining. Shopping in Delhi is the most hassling experience if one is not sure of what to buy. Although I had a pretty good idea about my needs, I was clueless when it came to buying gifts for friends back in Pittsburgh. Sarojini Nagar is one huge circus where every shopkeeper is a ringmaster in his own self displaying with aggressive vigor the best he had to offer. After walking past the shouting shopkeepers, the numerous fake Lee and UCB stalls and the infinite churidaars and lehengas for girls, I was more than a little dazed. The variety of choice and the varying sizes had confused me and I made a call to Pittsburgh just to ascertain the exact size of people concerned. Connaught place, Chandni Chowk and Lajpat Nagar were amongst the other Delhi hotspots I frequented this last week. The thought of shopping was irritating by the end of the week.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Indian flight 439 to Chennai. We would be taking off shortly. This flight is equipped with the CAT 3 Bravo system.”

My ears were not ringing. The flight was ultra modern- the plane, the seats, the food and most importantly the airhostesses were way better than the Chicago-New Delhi Air India flight I traveled in a fortnight back. Before we were up in the air, I was busy catching up on lost sleep. Finally, I was away on a vacation with my full family after five and a half years.

“I have been kissing and hugging people I am seeing after 16 months. This is the place I spent 21 years of my life and it’s unbelievable to come back to the same place and people again. It’s unreal.”

There are certain instances when one virtually switches between one era and another- say his past and the current- and it is all a mental adjustment. What one cannot anticipate is how and when the context switch would hit you. IT hit me this past week on Saturday evening. Until almost two weeks after landing on Indian soil, I was still complaining about missing Pittsburgh, its people and constantly comparing my lifestyle at the two places. The same phenomenon happened the first time I traveled to America and it probably happens to others too. What was different this time that I almost broke down while bidding good bye to a college friend. It was not about people not being able to meet- but the flood of good old memories which threatened to moisten my eyes in public. I was coming to terms with how much of India-my home- had changed, how much the people I knew had moved on in life, how much little I meant to so many people, how much more I was to a handful few and how in spite of all the big talk, I was still a simple Indian at my core. Sometimes looking in the mirror can be intimidating and that’s precisely what had happened to me; suddenly and unannounced! I felt sick. I kissed my mom and dad later in the evening, spoke to Bachu and Nicole until my balance ran out, spoke to my grandma about life’s philosophy, lit a bonfire and poured my heart over the burning embers.

“Help us to build the nation. Pay taxes and become a responsible citizen.”

The journey from Chennai to Pondicherry- about two and a half hours- was amazing except for the last 45 kilometers or so. Road infrastructure in this part of the country is impressive and I certainly did not mind paying 20 rupees twice as toll for the 100km/h + journey. The last stretch of the highway from Tindivanam to Pondicherry is not complete yet but I felt proud on seeing such world class infrastructure being developed here. The amazing thing about Indian highways is that the best SUV in the world still shares the road- and gives way- to bullock carts. I saw people standing in lines bare foot in the hot sun for miles outside the many temples on our way. And they were there in their thousands if not the millions. There certainly is chaos in this country but in every chaos there seems to be a manner which emerges out of the confusion. Although it would seem like an accident is imminent with people walking all around on roads, bicycles streaking across the highway perpendicular to the traffic flow and the odd animal stopping the movement of goods, it rarely does happen. People do stop or slow down- mostly grudgingly- but the larger concept of sharing is not lost. India is a big country with big problems but what keeps it going is the spiritual strength of its people stemming from our centuries old culture. Patience (and maybe Gandhigiri) is one principle India could teach the world a lesson or two in. Take similar problems to any other country and I am sure their system would collapse.

“No video cameras. No mobile phones. No shoes. Keep silent”.

The board outside the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the former French colony left none in doubt about the code of conduct inside the Ashram. Noise on the outside suddenly turned into soothing silence once inside. The samadhi (resting place) of Sri Aurobindo is a shrine adorned with fresh flowers. I sat at one corner of the small enclosure around the shrine and tried meditating. Whether it was the lack of sleep or the power of the place as many believe, I was lost for the next 45 minutes or so. My family went inside the library on seeing me engrossed so deeply in though with closed eyes. I felt nothing around me but everything in my mind was lucid- I was asking tricky questions and getting answers for them. I felt cleansed.

“Man proposes. God disposes. This time, it was the opposite.”

I met up with Mukesh and Somenath, two close undergrad friends. I had planned to meet them in Bangalore but due to some change in plans, I was disappointed that my India trip would end up without meeting them. As author Robin Sharma would like to believe, for every desire that we have, there is a desire which has originated in the soul of the universe. They made plans to travel to Pondicherry without knowing I was coming here and it was last week that we knew that we could meet at a third place besides Delhi and Bangalore. It was a short meet but it just about managed to plug in another mental piece in this amazing India trip.

Sitting in the balcony of the ashram guest house, with the Bay of Bengal playing its orchestra 50 feet away- waves after waves hitting the rocks beneath where I sit- I can see a bright flood light at the end of the peer a mile away. It makes a portion of the ocean glitter like diamonds but the rest of it is dark and scary. Does that make the lit up waves- that I am attracted to watch- any different from the infinite expanse of the rest of the dark ocean? The rest of the ocean seems to be only swimming towards the light post. I cannot think of any better correlation in real life apart from the light post being analogous to God in our lives with everything He sheds light on being the most glorified thing we see. It’s not surprising that the ocean seems to be moving in His direction.

Staring at my screen, something just flashed my mind- though for a second only- some other things which seem to be from a previous life. Pittsburgh, INI, CMU, Deloitte, hardships and grades. Somehow, the people don’t seem to be from another planet- they seem to say I-miss-you with every breath.

This trip is an incredible escape from what I am and my mundane rat-raced lifestyle. I hope the next 6 days have more stored in them. For now, the waves come and go and I sit humming an old Kishore Kumar tune…

ps: This post was written in Pondicherry but I did not have the time to put it up until two days later in Chennai.