Friends have been asking about my India experience so far. To that I chant the Hindu Advait Vedanta matra- Neti, Neti, Neti meaning “Neither this, Nor That”. There really is no one way to explain what India is or has become (even the past, present, future tense stand still here).

I get up every morning and along with chai (that mom makes) get the newspaper. At that moment I feel love and belonging like none else. As I read the paper the feelings get a little more complex. The newspaper reads like an absurdist tabloid. There is an article, two full pages long, about a conference held for and attended by the worlds leading luxury goods manufacturers who see India as their fastest growing market. Jostling for space is another article about farmers who are unable to pay off their loan and are forced to commit suicide. Sharing the same page is a news about record yield of strawberries and how India is to become the largest exporter of strawberries to Europe. There is an article in today's newspaper about the influence and power wielded by women politicians. Yesterday there was one about a woman in rural India who was accused to being a witch, tied to a tree and beaten up- all this on broadcast TV. A school teacher beat up a student with a stick and she died (parents say due to injuries, doctors say its unclear). Another article tells me that the government has announced plans to set up eight more IITs and seven more IIMs- those hallowed corridors of education that catapulted India into the world technology and business arena. When then does one begin to rejoice and when lament?

Even if one were to step out of the incongruous and confusing world of the newspaper on to the roads of Delhi, the contrasts are hard to miss. I am not even going to go to the absolute lawlessness of the roads (that is now a subject too blasé for discussion here). The new metro public transport system shines as truly a much needed and much awaited blessing. A sign that things are improving- slowly yet surely. Yet we get power cuts that last hours ( I dread the fast approaching summer), everyone buys mineral water because what comes out of the taps is undrinkable and every year everyone digs deeper and deeper to pump water from the ground. No one seems to care or talk about the time when there is nothing more to dig and what when you can't dig anyways because there will be no electricity to pump water with.

I went to a mall with a friend last week and I am sure I was very irritating company for all my surprise oohs and aahs. There isn't a creature comfort that you can't get. From designer clothes to Brookstone kind of stores that tell you what you may need and then sell it to you. It could be a mall anywhere in the US. The service was impeccable, even if a little amateurish. Most of the salespeople are young college or school graduates who still haven't developed the professionally polished calm and disassociated politeness of the salespeople of the west. They are so eager to please they stalk you through the aisles and don't rest till they have found what you are looking for (that you are having to move an inch to look for something on your own is an insult to their profession). At the restaurant where we ate the manager asked several times if the food was ok and did everything to accommodate our needs- something I don't remember ever happening in my past life in Delhi.

Yet most of my mom's needs are met within a km of where she lives and she finds little use for malls and grocery chains. A banana seller comes every morning, followed by a vegetable seller and a fruit seller. They all ring the door bell, bargain without much gusto- as if they just need to go through the motions to justify the sale they made. Last evening I went to the local grocer with mom. We have known him forever and a few days- since the time his dad ran the shop. After his father passed away he took over the family business. His mother helps in keeping things organized. People come and rattle off their list of requirements. The mother assigns tasks to a couple of helper boys who then bring whatever you asked for and put in a basket. The basket then goes to the son who with his brand new handy dandy computer calculates your bill for you. I had barely made it to the front of the shop when my mom reminded me to say “Namaste” to the grocer's mom (“she always asks after you”) Not only did the lady remember me but also every detail of my life. She inquired after me, my work, my life. All this while the rest of the people waited for their turn to rattle off their grocery needs. If this wasn't enough we realized that we were a few hundred rupees short (on account of my having made my mom buy a few “healthier” things). I was going to tell him that I could come by and pick up the stuff later but he raised his hand, palm facing me (a universal gesture for “ I shall hear none of that”) and made mom sign the back of the bill, then put it away on one of those little spears that hold loose papers. There was a thick wad there from other people who hadn't paid the guy yet. He did not take any money at all saying that he would rather clear it all later. How is that for a credit card? No APR either.

It is an India of many Indias- owned equally and unequivocally by the farmers -ones who commit suicide and ones that find the next big cash crop, by stores in malls that aim to make life easier for you the consumer to shop owners who are an an intrinsic part of your life, by politicians who are caught taking bribes and by those few that hold up the hope for sustainable development, by parents fighting to get their kids into high end private schools and by kids that shine despite their less than perfect circumstances. India is a promise and promises can go either ways. Until then India remains, at least for me, Neti, Neti,Neti.

So much time has lapsed between my last post and this one and so much has happened. The roadtrip was great. We made it to Boston, MA, stayed there for a few days and then drove back to NJ to catch a flight to India- so technically we covered the width of the continent and then some! It was absolutely fantastic at that level. The chains- of restaurants, motels, gas stations. The unflinching appearance of rest areas along the highways.The very things that were a comfort factor also make the country somewhat homogeneous. This gets thrown up in contrast (not in comparison) as I return now from Goa. An hour and a flight from New Delhi and it may as well have been a different country- food, language, religion, architecture. But I am getting ahead of myself. With the lack of internet access for the last part of the road trip I did not get a chance to update the blog regularly.

After Austin, we drove through Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia,West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and finally arrived in Massachusetts. We stayed in Memphis, TN and Roaneke, TN and finally in Westborough MA.

Without going into too many details (which might yet show up in my future blogs) here are some top award winners.

Starting with the important first...
The poshest Restrooms- TN
Most fun- Austin TX (of course having friends in Austin, bends it in its favor)
Larget expanse of nothingness, mile after mile after mile- TX
Funniest state sign ("Dont Mess with Texas" having lost some of its luster)- Virginia
"Buckle Up Virginia- Its a law we can live with"
Most promise of fun- Memphis
It would have been more fun if we had stayed there overnight and been able to to go to listen to some live music and also if we could get all our friends there.

Hola from Austin! We are taking a break in Austin. We both are spending quality time with our respective college friends. After a rather heavy lunch of piles of tortilla chips, fajitas and a wonderfully moist tres leches cake, my friend is comatose next to me. I have promised to make chai and wake her up. We totally reverted back to college days with trying on clothes in a store, eating, shopping, talking about life, plans, families etc etc.

On our several road trips back and forth between California and Texas, we always took I-40. We rather liked it, with its stunning views, quaint roadside shops and abundance of rest areas. The streach of I -10 between Arizona and Texas has been rather bland in comparison. The landscape did not change much. El Paso was very interesting. It was a bit bizarre to see Mexico-right there! The shanty slums across the street were Mexico. I couldn't help but wonder what goes through their minds as they watch the freeways and across the freeways the malls, the stores the comsumer glut.

Yesterday we stayed at Demings, New Mexico. A small one street town and that one street was called Motel Drive. We stayed in a Gujarti owned Best Western, with its "barely there" amneties and "could have been better" standards of cleanliness. Could have stayed at the one across the street that declared " American Owned and Operated"...I guess the Potels will have to wisen up if they want to keep business.

After leaving Chandler Arizona we took a short detour to see wild flowers in a national park. Beautiful yellow poppies and purple flowers whose names I forget at this moment growing wild and abundant amidst cactuses that were two stories high!

Tonight we plan to eat yet another heavy mexican dinner, sleep well, do our laundry at the friends place and head out again. We have been travelling eastwards on I-10 mostly all this while, now we will head north to our final destination, New York.

Greetings from Phoenix!
We left LA dusty and stormy, a beautiful sunset in the rear view mirror. A sign board tells us that we are traveling "at sea level". We stayed with college friends catching up on old times planning to meet soon in the future. They have been very busy with two kids-one a toddler and the other a six month old. In our friend's words he has been so busy he thought "No Country for Old Men" was a documentary on the future of social security...seriously.

On a more general note, the beautiful long stretches of freeways are a constant source of amazement to us. That someone had the foresight to build freeways that wide, that strong...those beautiful webs of interchanges that we see flying past in the moon roof. Then of course the ultimate - the kohl dark freeways of Phoenix, so smooth it feels like one is slipping over a slab of melting butter.

We stayed last night with our friends from Nepal and woke up to the beautiful smells and sounds of prayers. Our friend's father is visiting from Nepal. Their little daughter is peeping from the other side of the door , too shy to come and talk. She speaks no Hindi and little English and I can barely understand Nepali. She is asking her mother why I have a white computer (Mac) while they have a black one (Dell) and which one is better- Ah the big question that many have fought over!

Stay tuned!

Greetings from LA!
We have started our cross -country road trip. A slow goodbye to the US. We will travel from the west coast to east and then fly awayyy!
There was one annoying thing after another on the last day. Each could be a blog posting in itself.

We shipped all our stuff in a container a few days before our final departure. It went smoothly with four packer and movers working in perfect synch. We packed all the small stuff to save money and let them handle the furniture, art work etc. They rocked and were laughing and chatting as the day wore on while our respective backs were burning and our smiles fading by the end of the day! The rest of the condo -owners in the building (mostly elderly people) gave us grief over all things big and small- Dont let the main door stay open ( one of us was always watching), dont move the door wedge( wedge!getting worked up about a door wedge!!),they wanted to know how long the loading will take because of "security concerns". I don't think the fact that the movers were two turbaned sikh gentlemen helped. (but I sincerely hope this is only my hyper active albeit tired imagination).

Selling the cars was another interesting experience...but more on that later. We have a couple of hours before we have to get on the road again! Auf Weidersehn!