Trips to India always makes me nostalgic. As we boarded the plane from india, I noticed an elderly woman sitting next to us smiling quite affectionately towards my children. “Did you enjoy your trip honey?”- she asked
suraj took a long”Hmmmm..” before saying “yes”.
She told me that originally though from portugal her great-grandfather was from india and it was always a dream to visit the country and the places that he fondly narrated to her as a child.
“So how was your vacation?”- i asked curiously.
“Well.. very different from what i had in my mind. Ofcourse I couldn’t expect to see the india that my grandpa showed me through his stories.. but still i feel that the essence is missing.. may be i am totally wrong.. I don’t know.. What do you say?”
I told her that over the years the change has been too much even for me who spent all my life there, but it can’t be helped.
My son found most of the things confusing.. People there were trying to speak in English when he asked me secretly “Isn’t malayalam supposed to be the language spoken here?”. He even tried to correct people by saying “I can speak malayalam”.
All the small vendors in the commercial streets were replaced by big showrooms. He saw several jewellery showrooms and asked me “Is that a huge mall or something?”. But after seeing several of them, he was amazed and asked”Why do the people here buy so much of gold?”
The traditional snacks were replaced by all the high-tech burgers and wraps, that i had to hunt down several shops to give him a taste of my favourite “munthirikothu, elayappam and avilozhunda”. Everybody was having take-outs that had become so common there. There was KFC, Baskin — Robins, Dominoz , pizza hut!

I went to the temple to do a pooja and was inquiring about the timings and when to get the prasadam, when the person seated there gave me a web-site, where i could do it on-line and have the prasadam delivered to me at home. If i wanted the pooja to be done at home, then the e-mail address and cell phone number of the pujari was available. How i missed my little kovil and the pleasant surroundings!!
When we actually went around for the family get-togethers or casual visits at friend’s places, everyone spoke about the maid not turning up and how prices have gone up and the value of the investments that they hold or about to make. Everyone was tech-savvy and connected more through the net. Suraj finally said..”Everyone is so busy.. and they talk about things that don’t interest me.. I feel bored!!”
I smiled.. I was taken back in time when i was of his age as i recalled how much i enjoyed my vacations, how much i connected with my grandparents.. i can still feel their warmth and love.. but i guess change cannot be stopped and i guess that is why memories become so precious and the reason why people hold on to it so tightly!