India

One of my colleagues asked me how my move was working out. In a nutshell. And this is what I told him:

India, needless to say, has developed a lot. I see a lot more US factor (like US brands and shops and restaurants) here than I would like to, but that is OK. Things move much faster now. We had a smooth ride setting up our house, it wasn't as much pain as it would have been probably 8 years ago. You get a lot of household help and outside help (like someone washes/cleans our car everyday, you can get a chauffeur etc) so as long as you are above a certain income level, you can live a lot more comfortably than if you were making a quarter million bucks back there.

Which is my opinion. In a nutshell. We went to a store called "Hometown" which is like a home improvement/development store. And the sort of stuff you get there and the kind of things you see there are mindblowing. I haven't seen a variety like that even in IKEA/Home Depot. Modular kitchens, designer bedrooms and what not. Urban India has developed. Beyond imagination. You couldn't have imagined this even 5 years ago. Sometimes when I see the cities, I wish I had never left. I almost feel sad that I have missed witnessing all this explosion. But better late than later.

I also look at today's kids and exclaim in awe. They grow up with things that I never saw till I was well into my twenties. Whether its appliances or cell phones or XBOX consoles or whatever it is, they are well into technology I never knew about till I was a decade past my teens ;) But then I think it was probably the same thing with our parents and us. They would have been surprised as much as we are I suppose.

And life goes on..