The simple pleasures!!!!

Well, today we picked up Dicky (Karthik) from the airport. FYI, he went abroad to study and just couldn't come home because of work and other obligations. But he finally decided to make a quick trip down here.

It was only after seeing the man I realised, how lucky we were to have the simple things right there in front of us and we didn't know it. When he called to give us the great news of his return, he was excited, ecstatic to be back home and have idli-vada and sambaar, masala dosa. Initially I wondered, why would someone get excited to have that. It's ONLY idli-vada.

Well, my bird brain didn't realize that the US really isn't the land of opportunity. There is NO idli-vada. There is NO Purple Haze. ( Purple Haze...Umm....There is a God!) You cant get away from a traffic violation with a small bribe to the cops.( Any Indian going "Ushuuuu!!!!" right now needs a kick up their rear ). You don't have hot food on the table. You don't have bhel puri for 10 rupees. You don't have National Market for well....you know...the pirated stuff! And for some...there is no Navy Cut and No Wills! The good old brands you trusted in college! There is no dhaaba where you escape to, to have a cheap meal and a quick drink! There is no Shanti Sagar where you get 10 varieties of paneer which all taste the same. :-)
I cant think of anymore right now. But I am sure there are a million things Dicky could name right now. But he's jet-lagged so don't want to bug him.

Just think, so many simple things that we crib/complain about here seem so dear to us when we don't have it. McDonald's probably doesn't hold much value anymore. I remember just the other day, a good friend Neha told me, "I'm putting my life in two suitcases and going to the US !!!" before she went to the US.Little does she know that even a hundred suitcases wouldn't suffice. Maybe you'll have your clothes,shoes and a few photographs. But the simple things?????? You cant take them!


(Did anyone notice all my 'simple pleasures' seem to be oriented at food and drink???????)

Jokes apart, I'm sure each of us have these little things which we use everyday and have grown so accustomed to, that until we don't have it we never realize how precious they were to us. No matter how small or how insignificant, it was part of our lives that defined us.
I'll probably still complain about the quality of dishes at Shanti Sagar, cleanliness of the Bhel Puri waala, pluralist at haze!!! But I guess you only miss the things you don't have!!!

Comments

Evaaa :D said…
I definitely agree ... Initially, when I came to the US, I would wonder why these guys speak so much about idlis, masala dosas n even upma for that matter! .. which im sure all of us would have been cribbing about when mom made them. But these little things(then) seem so big right now ..cuz they aren't as easily available.. (forget about the ready-made MTR packs- the flavor will still be missing.. somehow!) ..
I started missing them in just 4 months and my quick trip home helped me out of the "missing home food" syndrome.. so I can only imagine wat 17 months can do to a person like Kary :P ..