After coming back from India as (more of) an adult, I am embarrassed at how spoiled I was. My relationship with my Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, and small army of Cousins is so cool and breezy now because of those hot summers. The pride in the art of storytelling, the willingness to argue any point from 5 different angles, the sense of playfully mocking loved ones--so many elements of my personality that I value can be directly traced back to these vacations and just observing the clan. Just driving around with my Uncle on his motorcycle, grabbing dinner at a beach side restaurant and talking politics, family, cricket is one of those memories I'll always remember and forever seek to duplicate with each successive trip.
I can't fully decide if my growing comfort with India, and my increased desire to return, is down to my maturation or the fact that India has Americanized so much. The standard of living in the country has skyrocketed in the past 13 years; people in cities have more money, nicer amenities, more varied food options (including the large scale introduction of supermarkets) and now my grandparents house does have hundreds of channels and programs which I watched in English, Tamil and Hindi. I'm happy to admit that I am more willing to visit when the house is air-conditioned and I can watch Seinfeld while eating Pizza Hut, but I am even happier to reveal that I love India just as much when it's high noon, the power is out and there's no fan or television, not a word of English or scrap of America is around and I'm sitting with my Grandmother playing dice and hearing stories about my Mom.
