On India’s Independence Day
Hello lovelies! I know it’s been a really long time since I posted here. I have no excuses, but all I can say is that I’ve been upto a lot of craziness. For one example, see this video of a Bollywood flash mob I participated in :D. (I’m the girl in the sunglasses who falls shortly into the video… wann wannn…)
I will not be posting about food today, but I have a personal little bit to share about today, which is India’s 67th Independence day.
It’s strange how I feel on India’s Independence day today. As a kid, it was the prospect of hot jalebis and a longer morning prayer at school with the national anthem and a flag hoisting ceremony. Then we got to go home! In college, it didn’t mean anything at all. The daily routine of classes, long Mumbai commutes, the frustrations of the city and the general ignorance toward how the country was changing, didn’t make the day significant at all. When I started working, media opinion every Aug 15th reminded me how much progress the country had really made. And how much it hadn’t. NDTV journos waxed lyrical about the corruption, the lack of basic amenities for a significant chunk of the population, and the religious tensions. I absorbed it, understood it, but didn’t know how to react or what to do with that information.
Now, as an immigrant in the US, the patriotism weakly sparks back on August 15. Being in an environment where I have adapted to the local culture and ways of going about my life, including even the way I talk, it’s the one day I get to thump my chest and proudly feel “Indian”. It’s the day I celebrate my identity and my roots. Indian is who I am and always will be no matter how much I adapt to the country I’m in.
But I also think about the violence and rampant disrespect against women in India. I think about the politician that reportedly played a role in killing thousands of innocent civilians in Gujarat, rallying to make it to Prime Minister. I read about the economic growth. The infrastructure boom. The innovations in technology and automobiles. And all the leaps we’ve made in being a world leader in consulting and offshore technology services.
Sitting here, India is like a dream to me. It feels like this comforting, loving place I can go to and feel ‘myself’. I feel like I know her, and then I don’t know her at all. But I know it’s a place that is the only place I can call home. Day to day, as I go through my struggles and joys of dealing with life, work and relationships in a foreign country, I forget where I’m from. Sometimes, it feels, I’m just another outsider trying to adjust to life here. Today is a reminder to me of who I really am and what I stand for. I wouldn’t call it patriotism. It’s a yearning for home that is very hard to describe.
One Life to Eat 