As we are nearing our Independence Day celebrations, I cannot help but wonder how many more of us Indians living abroad feel as nostalgic and homesick as I do? Do you find yourself reminiscing about your carefree, nearly perfect childhoods spent in the company of your neighborhood friends who were from all cross-sections of society and far-reaching corners of India? Do you remember spending countless hours in the neighboring auntie’s house who was from southern India and relishing her culinary delicacies like Dosas and home-made tomato pickle which were a world away from your in-house favorite Rajmah-Chawal, yet you felt entirely at home in her kitchen? Do you remember sub-consciously learning certain Bengali phrases just because your office colleagues in India would inevitably slip into the habit of talking in their mother-tongue yet you- ever a Delhi kid, didn’t feel left out of the conversation? Do you remember coming together for Navratri celebrations and gathering your friends to go to the Dandiya celebrations and watching in complete awe as your Gujarati brothers and sisters twisted, twirled and danced to the divine choreography over the beats of the Dhol? Do you remember relishing the casseroles full of sweet, gooey kheer made with almonds, cashew nuts and raisins fried in ghee delivered to your door during Eid? India- indeed a world within a country, inhabited by a mix of unique languages, cultures, cuisines, and lifestyles!
