And to the mother ship they went...

We made the 'pilgrimage' to Southall this weekend - a shrine to India in the heart of London's suburbia. We came back amused, entertained and stuffed to the gills (Punjabi pun intended)! The place is a smörgåsbord of all things Indian or rather north Indian. You have the 'Glassy Junction' pub where the signs urge you to 'maujan mannoo', several 'Gold Factory'-ies, the 'Chaudhary Express', dahi puri at 'Chappan Bhog', dental surgeries where the list of practitioners reads like the who's who of Chandigarh, a marriage introduction and welfare advisory service, and shops selling nylon-polyester-sequinned thingummies for £700 (down from £1450 - definitely one for Swast Ani Masta), among other delights. My poor very South-Indian bedfellow was not impressed with the near absence of South-Indian representation until he found his poison - very sweet, very Punjabi lassi - heaven!

This picture sums up our experience, and yes, we will go back for more!


P.S. More pilgrimages to come, especially to East Ham, to our South-Indian roots. More pictures here.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

I went home (or what 'was' home), to Mumbai, to surprise my ma on her 60th birthday, and boy was she surprised! For me, it was a mixed bag - it felt fantastic to be back in familiar territory, surrounded by familiar faces, spending time catching up on the changes since I was there last. Strangely, though I do love the big bad and mad city, this time around, I found it intimidating and quite grim. I don't know why, but I feel the need to disclaimer here. I went back this time after little over a year, but the circumstances of my trip last May were different, so in reality, it's more like a year and a half since I've been back. I am not sure the city has changed much, but I think I have. I was always the first to scoff at the nouveau NRIs coming back with thick foreign accents and grumbling about the crowds and filth. Yet here I was, scared to cross the roads, not wanting to take an autorickshaw because it left me exposed to the elements, and complaining about the heat! I even actually missed being 'home' in Oxford!

It has been a very interesting journey for me. I never quite understood why Dot didn't instantly fall in love with Mumbai. After this trip, I think I am one step closer to understanding. I think when you live in Mumbai, you train yourself to shut out the squalor and hordes - it's a survival mechanism. You learn to see only the good stuff, like the 'development' and the 'economic growth'. You know you can grumble all you want but the problems are bigger than ever and are only getting worse. So you force yourself to look at the bright side, make that seemingly endless journey to work every day, spend most (or even all) of your waking (and or sleeping) hours there, and trudge back, trying very hard to enjoy the ride. The salaries are headed skyward and money makes a great insulator. As Nodot once wisely said (among other wise things he usually says), "tinted (car) windows seem to make the hovels and street-crapping urchins seem almost endearing". But what lurks under there is real and not going anywhere.

There are great aspects of Mumbai living I know I won't experience anywhere else in the world, but I'm not ready to go back in a hurry.