The "rattling" magpies puncture the absolute silence of my evening walk back from the gym. The sweeping manicured lawns, the well cut side walks and the gently flowering shrubs add to the picture postcard beauty as I loiter and store in the scenes and hope to retrieve it at my leisure. I am in a dream. The houses in neat rows, no garbage in sight, the sun still bright in the sky and there is still hours to go before I sleep.
Where am I? Not definitely in my own country! Nor in Mumbai the "maximum" city. I am in the suburbs of Houston a major city in the United States. Having a long vacation, in fact a kind of vacation which I have never had. I have the comfort of home without any responsibilities, living in a foreign country with a regular supply of Indian food ( which has been my obstacles during my travels) , I sleep when I want to , get up when I want to, read, browse the net and be the guest of a very sweet sister in law and brother in law.
The people at the gym are sweet. They greet you with a hi! And bid adieu with " have a nice day/ evening" I refer to them as "firangs" (foreigners) when I am the foreigner!
The other day I went a little early. The sun was hot in the sky but young boys were out on their skate boards, little girls were walking to the pool with their mothers and I saw the men who worked tirelessly to keep the landscape pristine and beautiful. They were mostly Hispanic, some of them old but mostly relatively and energetically young. They drive the lawn mowers like racing cars- expertly manoeuvring them around curves!
The normal silence that enveloped the atmosphere was missing. There was the sporadic noise of a car whispering by on the main road, the loan mowers groaning, the leaf blower's whoosh and a few dogs barking behind the fences of the backyard.
The trees that line the roads- the maples, the ash, the oaks..... All grow in an orderly manner. They all have leaves, green and healthy, they stand straight in a eliminated manner and wave their branches gently and calmly. Even the rain here is in straight lines! ( with my limited imagination I cannot imagine the hurricanes and storms that have hit this place!)
I am content.... But am I thrilled or happy as I was in the forest in Hannover? I don't know.
I remember the irritating pigeons that worm their way into my balcony. I remember the wily newspaperman trying to overcharge me. I remember the various delivery boys who keep interrupting my games on the computer!
The dirty roads I do not miss! But the hustle and bustle of the roads I do. Missing the overflowing garbage bins would be abnormal but appreciating the life on the streets wouldn't be too crazy, or would it?
There is a lot of heat and dust in the country that we call India. The colour, the spice and the uncertainty puts a pall on the clinical and sanitary world of the west. I remember the kindergarten teacher in Germany asking or letting the children roll and play in mud in the forest. They also realise that some dirt is required to let us develop into complete human beings.
To each to his own and I suppose some firang must be feeling as I am doing now in India. But I do miss my Mr. Know all "calm" husband, my first born and the still terrible teenager. The space that I call my home and the little box with my various Gods are asking me "when will you come back?
After all home is where the heart is.......
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