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Since arriving in India, I have had:

My Iphone 3Gs from home. I deliberately refused to get a higher Iphone so that I could have a smart phone in India. However, the genius that I am decided to upgrade it to iOS5 because I was bored. I arrived in India to learn iOS5 can not be unlocked. The Iphone is now a useless, but expensive piece of equipment I have to keep an eye on.

A Nokia brick phone with basic dialing capabilities that has made it incredibly difficult to SMS people in a country where texting is only secondary to speaking in person. My dignity suffers a little when I pull this number out of my purse in front of the sea of Blackberries and God-knows-whats in the metro.

A Droid that my friend lent over to me that could not for the life of me pick up the data service I bought. Nor could I really figure out how to use it. All I could figure out was how to make it say "DROOOIIDDD" to me.

But today, Rahul and I went downstairs to the lobby of Cybercity and purchased a Blackberry. He called me and asked if I had a free moment to walk over to the nearest phone shop. I said "seriously??" (I had been begging him for 2 weeks now). He said "well, it's long overdue right?" Finally!

This has been a life-changing experience in Delhi. Internationally, I think the Blackberry is a lot more popular than any other phone. BBM is the most normal form of communication here. When I had a Blackberry in the US, it took me about 3 or 4 months of owning it to have 20-some contacts on BBM. Here in India, in a little over two weeks, I have 15. Oddly, I don't even text anymore. In fact, SMSing costs more money than having a data plan and then using BBM or Whatsapp. For INR 399, I have unlimited 3G data for a month. That's like $7.50. Not to go on about Blackberrys, but the culture around having this phone is so interesting. On BBM, everyone has a status message and a display pic. Kids here update both of these things about 3 to 4 times daily.

It wasn't until I went phone shopping that I realized how expensive cell phones are without the packages and plans we have in the US. Without a plan, a nice Blackberry or an iPhone or a Droid is something like $500-$1000!!! I had no idea.

A solid connection to the US, free SMSing through BBM and whatsapp in India, and e-mails from Hopkins and work when my home internet acts up.

Hard to admit it, but I actually feel relieved.

Conversations in Malviya Nagar

At the ATM this morning:

“Omg… hi! Aren’t you in fashion industry?!”

“No.”

“Yes, I have seen you somewhere!”

“No, you haven’t…”

“Yes, I have.”

“No, really, you haven’t. I’m not from here.”

“Where are you from?”

“The US.”

“Oh. Well you really look like someone. Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure! Bye.”

Minutes later:

Cabby: “Madam, aap kaha se ho?”

“US. Lekin, Mummy Daddy India se hai.”

“Aacha! Meine socha tha ki aap foreign hai. Aacha Mummy Daddy umrika mein hai aur aap shaadi karane liye India aaye?”

“Kya?! No. Jaldise drive karo please.”

This is what a start to a day in India sounds like.

*Edit* Told this to my friends here and they immediately told me to check if my ATM card was still in my purse... Oh, India.

Har Ek Friend...

I've noticed that marketing and PR in India has greatly improved over the years. Aside from the unoriginal and still disturbing intermittent face lightening commercials (they make my German housemate go into a rant about racism in the 21st century every time she catches one), commercials are kind of fun to watch. A lot of products seem to have understood the television market and have made some hilarious or incredibly sweet commercials. On top of this, every Bollywood Star endorses something (to the point where it's embarrassing ie: Kareena, on a Head and Shoulders ad, with Saif Ali Khan stroking her hair and saying "Ab, no more dandruff!"). Actually, in a laughing-at-you-not-with-you sense, Indian TV in general is incredibly entertaining at face value. I've seen some knock off Punk*D, Kardashians, Big Brother... Even the major news outlets have a ton of fanfare. The talking heads on their evening political segment scream at each other while the "objective" moderator initiates more conflict. I don't really have a lot of time to watch TV, but while I catch some here and there, I have to appreciate the effort they put into making everything colorful, ridiculous, and over-the-top.

That being said, this is my favorite commercial:

Airtel: Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai Song with Lyrics - YouTube

Back

So, I’m back.

In fact, this is the third time I have flown to India this year. It’s actually pretty ironic that India has become such a large presence in my life. As a child in the ‘90s, the idea of coming to this country was like an obligatory family pilgrimage that took years for my parents to save up for and required months of planning and packing. Those trips involved discomfort from beginning to end, starting with the unpleasant wave of thick humid air that one feels as soon as they enter the Bombay International terminal, to pretending to recognize hundreds of blood-related strangers that claimed to know me. Even while coated in hand sanitizer and Off bug repellent, I feared for my sheltered immune system when I first encountered the Indian washroom, the lack of food regulation, and the side effects of malaria prophylaxis. It was in India that I understood the glory that is Cortisone, toilet paper, and potable tap water. I mean, I was a kid taken out of my home, experiencing sensory overload -- in the most negative fashion, while being mind-warped of my English by an influx of Gujarati/Hindi/Hinglish. I still remember the pujas my grandma would organize at the end of each trip, during which my mother and her sisters would inevitably start crying. My aunts would crush me in hugs, teary eyed and miserable, while I would sneak a glance at the clock, counting the minutes until our departure time. I think the only thing I really enjoyed back then was buying Indian outfits that would probably never see daylight in the US.

What happened between those times and now, I am unsure. I think much of it I have to credit to my mother who decided sometime in my teenage years that traveling to India was something that should be done yearly. Soon, family members weren’t just names -- they were my sisters and brothers, we started to stay in our own temporary flat in Bombay, we maintained the expat lifestyle within the Indian experience, and with that, uncomfortable became comfortable. I learned to pave my own way through Bombay, grow attached to my family, and visit India on my terms.

Concurrently, I entered a phase of my life where I was consumed by a mission of self-identification. I don’t know what made me feel so determined to define myself in my late-teens, but I wanted to be sure that I knew exactly what I was. My college essay was about the Indian-American experience. My courses turned to cultural anthropology, South Asian studies, and religion. My social life was immersed in one theme only as I attended Bhangra competitions, created a Jain Student Organization at GWU, and went out to every “Desi” event at the nightclubs of DC. The frequent trips to India were a validation of my cultural rebirth as I explored my ancestral villages, the social scene of the 21st century Indian, and the importance of family. Now, my trips out here have become spontaneous, packing takes about a day, and most recently, I've started to come alone. India has become as necessary for me as it was for my mother and if my Aunts ever looked up when I hugged them goodbye, they would see that my eyes are full of tears too.

And so, of course, as my trajectory would predict, here I am back in the “Motherland,” working at a global health consulting firm and serving the Indian population. My international health studies have somehow led me to live in this country for the next two months. Live in India...again?? I have been reassigned as a consultant to work for the USAID-funded Innovations in Family Planning Technical Assistance Project with Futures Group International, based in Gurgaon, Haryana.

I invite you to join me once again, through my experience as an uprooted and re-rooted, Indian-origin, ex-patriot yuppie, pursuing her academic degree while continuing a journey of self-identity in the glorious city of New Delhi.