Little did I realise that my life would take a 360degree turn in the next couple of hours as I got into the Dubai-Kozhikode Indian Airlines flight in 1994.
Here I note down some of the things that a typical “Gelf Returned Student” like me faced in the 90s.
Get used to the stares.Everybody stares at you-man,woman.child.Doesnt matter what sex you are,you would still get stared at.This particular kind of stare is strictly reserved for the Non Resident Indians.The mystery factor is the ease with which “Resident Indians” pick out a NRI in the crowds and keep the stare going at them till they disappear.To face this while coming from a land where stares were supposed to be rude behaviour was…
Get used to peaceful co-existence.Peaceful co-existence of the lizards,the spiders & the frog in the bathrooms. To face this while coming from a land where the only definition of a pest was limited to seeing a cockroach in the building drains was…
Get used to running with the bus.The sooner you master the art of running with the bus and holding onto the rod and lifting up your body into the bus,the better for you. To face this while coming from a land where boarding a running bus was punishable was…
Carry enough of deodrant with you.Its a must considering the amount of sweaty bodies and oily heads that would have brushed by you during the bus journey. To face this while coming from a land of airconditioners was…
Get ready to find your thrill with the Sunday Chitrahaars.Gone are the days of Knight Riders/Beverley Hills/Tom & Jerry.No question of channel surfing.Get used to living with one channel. To face this while coming from a land of channel surfing was…
Get used to darkness.I never knew what the word “Load Shedding” meant and get used to burning the midnight wax quite literally. To face this while coming from a land where darkness never existed and a power cut meant a national disaster was...
Get used to seeing people only half clothed males at any point of time.Either the top half is bare(the bare chested ones)or the bottom half is bare(the dhotis tucked up above the knees). To face this while Coming from a land where everything had to covered was…
Get used to not speaking in English and get used to being jeered at if a word is spoken in English by mistake. To face this while Coming from a land where speaking English was like drinking water was…
Get used to running from one “coaching” or “tuition” class to another. To face this while coming from a land where tuitions were banned was…
Get used to cutlets being placed in between buns cut into two.Thats burger for you. To face this coming from the land of The KFCs and the Mcdies was…
Get used to the fact that your identity in your college is just a number.Your names are meaningless from now on. To face this coming from a school where everyone and anyone knew you by your name was…
These are some of the musings that I noted down during my early days in India,when I only looked at thing through a Dubai glass. Some experiences were fun,some were hurtful,some were painful but at the end of the day,it left me a stronger person.Parents “deport” their children to India in the name of “Higher Studies” and with all due respect to the parents,they simply do not have any other choices and I am sure its equally difficult for them if not more,but in my opinion it is the children who undergo the experience in a trial by fire and sadly nobody ever prepares them for it.I am not even sure if anybody can, given the fact that India is such a vast country with the vagaries being unimaginable.
But today,I cant even dream of leaving India and going to another land.I simply love this country,just the way I loved Dubai during my days there.To be fair and honest to myself I would have to admit that both Dubai & India have carved two special places within my heart and my mind and they would stay in there forever
In conclusion I would like to say that Dubai rocked for me once upon a time and India is rocking for me today
LifeAgain
