Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Mr. Yogi and the candy bar

Mr Yogi's 2 month uncut hair breezed along. It was not as if he was trying to give some serious competition to John Abraham or Hritik Roshan. It was just that he was lazy enough to get a haircut and also because it cost him 16 dollars in US against the usual Rs 30 in his country. Once a middle class perhaps always remains a middle class.

Looking at his year old worn out MotoRazr phone, he was reminded of his conversation with his cousin in the morning. It began with the usual round of "how-are-you-and-your-parents-in-india" talks to "when-are-you-getting-imprisoned(marraige)" stuff. It then shifted gears when his cousin asked him to change his L1B visa to a H1B. Hearing this idea Mr Yogi laughed as if he had just seen Shahrukh speak without stuttering.

His cousin still not sure what was so funny in it told him that it was logical indeed. When you have all the facilities in this country and you get overpaid for a job for which you were paid peanuts in India, what was wrong with staying here?

Th basic idea of most of the average joes who land in US as software experts is to come here for almost an year odd, get married, bring his wife, stay for another 2 years till his visa expires, go home on a vacation and renew it, come back, have kids, wait till they grow to 3-4 years and then run away to motherland. Well....it does sound like a plan...until someone interferes.

That is when your dear friend tells you from India that the salary here is meagre compared to US. Your wife who has lived long enough as an independent bird without any knitpick (read inlaws) will shell out reasons of comfortable life here and welfare of kids. Your kids who have now started to speak with an english accent look like the brown version of

Leonardo De Caprio or Drew Barrymore and you wonder how will they adapt to the Indian living conditions of 12 months of sunshine, frequent powercuts and water diseases. You yourself wonder if you can cope up with the long queue for water, constant traffic jams, never-ending bribery etc etc. Why bother to take the path full of thorns when you have a cement road laid ahead?

And that is how an year becomes 2, 2 becomes 5, 5 becomes 10 and then you wonder what happened to your initial plan of staying for an year and settling at your place. As his cousin asks Mr Yogi "Come on Yogi. Dont you think that you can earn enough money to remain happy for long?" They all say that...dont they? Money is an aphrodisiac and it is hard for most of the human beings on earth to be content with their earthly possesions. Why?

You go to a shop to buy candy bars. You happen to see a 5.1 surround home theatre DTS surround and decide to buy it. After the speakers arrive you realize that your 25 inch TV isnt the perfect match for it. So you buy a 40 inch plasma HD TV. Then you realize your old sofa is not the one to sit and enjoy your TV. So you buy a plush leather seating black sofa to enrich the movie experience. Then you realize that the whole hall looks small for your plans and you need a big (read grand) hall to maintain your status. So you end up buying a bigger palatial house or a flat. Now next you need a car to match ths status of this house.......

Whoa whoa....you think that this is exaggerated? Ask the ones who have gone through this whole material cycle. Ironically...it all starts with the hunger for a bar of chocolates. Then Mr. Yogi saw an Oreo biscuit and felt like eating it. And then he realized....

....that there was a greater joy in eating milk bikis dipping it in the filter coffee prepared by his mom....in his own home.

P.S: Good bye US and hello India
P.S1: Freaked out colleagues...friends...and parents by arriving unannounced :-)

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

one of ur best posts,IMO!! :-) Yea,me too voice the same thoughts..whatever ,India-na India thaan..vittu kudukka mudiyala ;-))
and welcome back to our motherland :-D

Anonymous said...

:) good one!! happy now?

KK said...

holy cow!! The paragraph about the material needs of a person was awesome... I always think of this... This post is like you read my mind and wrote this post... :D
Have fun dude!!!

Dreamzz said...

Absolute Truth! Hopefully I will have the mind to come out of this cycle of never ending commitments and money and come back to the land i love... with my heart and soul.

God, hopefully! hmmm...

Nivi said...

Y did I know this was going to be your post :))) Relished it. So true aint it??

Maybe thats exactly where i am going but I totally concur with u..:)

awesome post harish more so because it so heartfelt :)

Here's to mom's filter coffee :)

kuttichuvaru said...

bak in India?? vacation-aa?? i hv always wanted to do this surprise visit thing, but never worked out!!!

Ramya Shankar said...

Thair saadham...vethakozhambu !
Welcome home ! :)

prithz said...

Thachi mamam! Back to where it all started huh? :D

I wonder if you are obsessed with surprises or if they are merely your habits? Or am i dumb enough not to catch them? But one thing is for sure, i am never going to get tired of them! Keep them coming! :)

Enjoy your amma's food until u are pulled elsewhere :P

Vidya said...

I love surprises like this! My brother pulled a surprise like this when I was in India and I still relish it!

So are you back to India for good?

Kavitha Jay said...

WOW!!!...damn love this post..totally..
really liked the way u conveyed ur thoughts...guess i liked it the most..:D
have fun...ensoi

Sat said...

talk about arriving unannounced....u scared the shit outta someone :P
and yeah...nothing like home sweet home...enna sollu...roadside panipuri chat...ver kadalai...ara kilo thakkaliku ara mani neram beram pesurathu, vaila vantha padi thitti kitte roadla vandiya urutitu porathu, sitting by the window and looking at tired looking ppl by the road still scurrying around instead of just staring at big empty roads...there's no such place like home :D

N!kh!l said...

Hey Harish, Welcome back to india. Well, Mr.Yogi's cousin that i am , I would say "U shudn't have come back".

Padma said...

that't cool.. and ya.. me too belong to the same category.. one reason i don't even want to move out of india[:)].. good decision buddy.. then u remember the treats u have promised me[:)]..
P.s i don't blog spot access at office so couldn't comment on urs

Anu said...

Whoa u must be a mind reader!!

So totally echos what we all feel! keep them coming dude! :-)

Anu said...

coming back to India???

Bhargavi C said...

Wow! Welcome home!(so,I got the answer for my question! back to Bharath!!)

Ms Congeniality said...

Wonderful!! Echoing my thoughts :)
Always home sweet home :)
And who says that in India we get peanuts as salary compared to what is offered in the US? If we have the capability and proper planning we can earn and lead a comfortable life in India itself without going to the US.

Anonymous said...

kalakkal post once again esp those tv-sofa-flat comparison.

welcome chellam :p

Anonymous said...

Kudos to u!
There are very few who choose to come back ... but going by the current political shit ... dont know how long india will be gud enuf to stay in ...
welcome home :)

Anonymous said...

Good post :)

Harish said...

@Sangs
Thanks yaar

@Priya
Kind of yes :-)

@KK
I tried boss :D

@Dreamzz
I am afraid the cycle may break some time :-(

Harish said...

@Nivi
Mr Yogi at times becomes me :-)

@Kuttychuvaru
Its bye bye US. Now...some other place maybe :-)

@Ramya
exactly :-)

@Prithz
"Enjoy your amma's food until u are pulled elsewhere "
vaaya vechutiya :P

Harish said...

@Vidya
Back from US. The rest is not in my hand :(

@Mystery
Coincidentally I wrote this before I knew I would come back home :-)

@Sat
yeah...Mr SOMEONE's eyes literally popped out of surprise. Its been so nice to meet all pals after so long :-)

@Nikhil
Some things are out of logic and go with instinct. This decision was one as such :-)

Harish said...

@Padma
Any time any place :-)

@Anu
hee hee...as usual...i tried. At last back to mera bhartah mahaan

@Bhargavi
Thanks yaar :-)

Harish said...

@Ms C
I wish everyone thought the same :-)

@Ambi
Vanakkam nna :-)

@Teal
My blood pressure really shoots up everytime I turn the news. Really tuf yaar :(

@Aparna
Thanks yaar :-)