India or US?

Ask any desi friend at US on when he is planning to go back to des....he almost certainly will say "in a year dude...this time arnd i have vrything planned"....rest assured, u can get the same answer next year or even the year after! why does he have to keep pushing his return trip indefinitely? wy doesnt he decide to stay or come back? Unfortunately the answer isnt very straightforward. From wht i have in mind as a confused desi myself and from what i see and hear arnd, i have tried to present both sides of the coin.

What you will miss if you go back to India [or the plus in staying in US]:
1. The pecuniary benefits! I feel a little shy to say tht money is at the top of priorites,,but afterall, thats the best part of staying at onsite:-)
2. US job being the desideratum of indian middle class, many stay here just for the heck of it, to give your parents something to be happy about...[not to deny the pecuniary benefits here too,,especially for an Andhraite, if u know wht i mean;-)]
3. Independence. Though independence arises out of sheer necessity. Most dont have close friends around that they end up being on their own and start liking it after a while!...
4. Cost of luxury. Just to get an idea of US economy, imagine if you can buy a LEXUS [luxury hybrid] with just 12 times your take-home salary. For a software engineer, in indian money equivalent, roughly 2.5 lakhs!! A decent laptop wud cost .25 times ur monthly take home. The perfect leather couch setup with plasma television and bose speakers would cost about 1.5. u can go on and on!
5. Cars and Roads! for ppl who like driving, this place is second only to Germany [from wht i read from sources].
6. Simply everything is very much possible and affordable. a house by lake side, with ur own boat. or may be you love flying and want license and ur private jet? Trust me, none of this is going to cost you a life time's savings!
7. Clean environment. Just think about the polution in major indian cities. Argh!
8. Other minor reasons that varies with people, like few who really love the food here etc...

What you will miss if u stay in US [the plus in going back]
1. Home town! Well...all said and done, the very sense of belongingness when you enter your native place, walk the streets that u have played on as a kid...is unbeatable! After all, that is the only place you can call "home"!
2. parents, relatives, your best friends! The fun of getting together on a family function, enjoying the evening with your best friends...That is the luxury that India provides!
3. Birds of the same feather! Inspite of the differences that is felt across India...when you see ppl who are like, absolutely different...of a completely different race[literally] you will understand that the sardar in punjab is probably not very different from your own brother! So, wherever in India you go, you feel that ppl are already tuned into your way of thinking that there hardly is any difference!
4. Diversity! Its too organized in US for your liking! same dunkin and same taste across US. same roads, same rules...For people who are used to seeing folks speaking a completely different language just 20 Kms across, who are used to eating a completely different cusine from state to state, who are used to eyecatchingly different costumes from one region to another...US definitely seems very dull...apart from the very fact that there are people of lot of different races living together. Its as if everyone just lose their identity in the "organized state" that is America!
5.Growing Economy! In a way there are pecuniary benefits in India also. But only for the really smart! If you have the talent and looking for the one place in the world where money is there to be made, that is India!

Twenty-twenty cricket

The indian selectors have picked up the 30 probables for twenty-twenty world cup. With the big guns, sachin, dravid and ganguly opting out(!), many new faces, like anirudha srikkant (son of former indian captain Kris srikkant), karan goel(top scorer in domestic 20-20) are in...The cricket fan is still wondering if this aborning concept is going to be the future of the game
Well...As a matter of fact, I am breaking my head to find any popular sport other than cricket where the 'short version' is played one full day! any pointers would be really helpful.
also, I am the kind of guy who prefers watching the first and last ten overs of an ODI... (that makes it twenty rite;-))...Test matches, well...if i am not at home on leave or something,,i am good with cricinfo bulletin.
i read somewhere...In china when ICC tried to promote cricket, there was stiff opposition coz of the reason that, if at all the game became popular in China, it would end up eating one full day[or five days, incase of test] of their people...they just werent ready to let this 'virus' in;-) May be 20-20 would be easier to sell!

Didactos!!blessed art thou name.

I am not sure if you ever noticed this, Whenever you move to a new place, or get into a new trade...ur new school, ur first year in college, first month at office, your first onsite trip, your first assignment you somehow find the someone (or in some cases more than one) who is there to teach the fine nuances, the trivias, the dos, the donts and even the musts of the new place! Painfully didactic they are at times, the strange part is, you never know what dissappears first, the knowledge that they have to impart or your interest in listening to them! All you know is after sometime they are not there any more...It could mean, you are learned and on your own now...
This post is dedicated to those ppl i came across in my life, I remembered quite a few of them while writing this...

Acclimate!

Its surprising how we get acclimated to comforts so easily...My friend who drives a honda accord here in US complained that he wasn't able to sit in a Maruti back home (in India)...its too small, no leg room he says...just few years back in college, travelling in an auto was luxury for us!
As an extreme case, I know of a person who packed mineral water bottles on an India trip!!!
On the other hand, I have had tough time making my grandparents come in bike or take them in a car (Car was a little easier though;-))...my grandfather never wore trousers all his life[Except once when we forced him to, and even took a picture of that:-))]. Well...may be there is an age after which acclimation seldom happens!