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Mission: Home

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As I eventually made the nearly 20-hour flight across the Atlantic and Indian oceans to land in Mumbai after a 7.5 year gap, there were quite a few firsts that I wasn't expecting.

#1: Dear Emirates Airlines, if you are reading this blog, may I request that you provide a vegetarian meal with NO BRINJAL (EGGPLANT) please. It isn't the most popular veggie by any means and one that I stay away from even if my life depended on it. What happened to good old #Paneer?

#2: Dear Mumbaikar (or at least I think you are one) to whom I requested making a phone call, I asked to make a call, not steal your kidney. Where was the famous #SpiritofMumbai that's been advertised as true?

#3: Dear Monsoon, please let up a little bit. I don't recall a brutal stretch of downpour ever. Is this the true face of the renowned #SouthwestMonsoonWinds?

In the first 2 days of being here, I did notice a world of difference but very little change - at least in my backyard of Mulund (East). Too many under-construction buildings - or is it just too many SIGNS that say "REDEVELOPMENT PLANNED of so-and-so" with blue and white shutters lining up wherever an old relic of a building once stood. The charm of a quaint little suburb like Mulund is now relegated to builders racing to reach the sky. That's the "world of difference" part. The crowds, the roads, the crowds and the roads co-existing as a living organism, well, certainly "no change" in that. 

As I advanced my trip by a couple of days without letting the kids know, the smarty pants that my girl is gave us a good chuckle. As I reached home at 4:30 AM, we woke up the kids and told them "Daddy's here". Confused but determined to get to the truth, Rivika gets up from bed and my mother tells her in Hindi, that you are just dreaming and that Rajesh is coming in 2 days. Pat comes the response, that Daddy is indeed here as I do not dream in Hindi :). If there was any doubt that smartness does not take a day off, this was Exhibit No. 1.

Still getting used to Riaan and Rivika speaking in Hindi - they are making a valiant effort to re-learn a language they had once mastered (lol) at the tender age of two.

Thrilled to see my family and my closest friends.

Stay tuned as my India journey takes off from the starting line.



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