Who's Your Favorite NRI?

well, browngirl of course. NRI: Non-resident Indian. It is because of my NRI status and the fact that i have family here that i was able to, with the help of my uncle, sort out my extension on my indian visa.

see when i left i spent the day at the indian embassy and got myself a 6 month visa. Of course what they didn't tell me when they looked at my application was that my visa would expire prior to my exit date since the visa is based on date of issue not date of entry. So here I was in India looking to spend 3 months but with a visa that was going to expire in 20 days.

Anyway its all sorted out now, and while the paper work was being done I got to spend the last week in Baroda, Gujurat in the city where i was born visiting with family and of course shopping :)

It's been 11 years since i've been here last. Somethings haven't changed a bit, cows still roam the streets, my cousins although look different haven't changed a bit in personality, i can still get a fresh lemon soda at 1am in the morning around the corner, and there's always paanwalla somewhere outside of every restaurant.

But then there's the other side of india, the cutting edge india, who is looked upon as the front runner (with china of course) of developing countries in terms of growth. The India that's modernizing its cities, with shopping malls that would make any NRI's mouth water, restaurants serving amazingly cheap and tasty fast food indian, mobile phones that have better service than anywhere i know in the US. Billboards with bollywood stars sporting their favorite underwear brand

It's amazing how far its come along. I mean 11 years ago we would pack our suitcases with electronics, beauty products, clothes, in order to give to our families. Now you can buy everything from mexican canned chili (veg of course) to halter tops to flat screen tvs...all at prices cheaper than back home.

Of course with that there's all of the extremes, moving too forward in somethings and not enough in others. Like for example we went to see the new film Shaadi #1 (Marriage number 1)... this story was basically about 3 newlywed guys who didn't get any action on their wedding night and for whatever reasons haven't gotten any since ... so they go off and end up dating the bosses 3 daughters, with the romantic notion that they'll have 2 marriages.. yes i know sounds absolutely stupid, and it was. So basically they were old fashioned enough to wait until they got married to have sex, but not proper enough to decide not to cheat on their wives. ( mind you they didn't sleep with the girlfriends either, they wanted to get married first)

I don't know the rating system in bollywood films but with the lack of clothing that was on the 'girlfriends' i can't believe they let 10 year olds in. I mean even if the story line was actually good, many of today's Bollywood films are always filled with model cum actresses wearing barely there clothing which has nothing to do at all with the story. To think that parents back in the US have trouble watching kissing scenes in Hollywood films but can watch this sort of stuff with their kids in movie theatres! Bollywood has always been about the Big Tease, no kissing no explicit sex scenes, just lots of innuendo. Women in white saris during a rain dance (no kim not that sort of rain dance) sequence, two body shapes under sheets moving around and the lights going out, or my favorite, just as the couple is about to kiss they turn their heads and all you see the back of the guy's head and the girl's hand running through his hair. I mean don't get me wrong, I am all for the modernization of Bollywood films, but add a kissing scene during a wedding shot, or something like that. Don't just throw scenes with actresses in outfits a prostitute wouldn't be caught dead wearing in every dance sequence. Having said all that, luckily they're not all like that... there are better, more realistic story lines, movies about once taboo topics such as aids, spousal abuse and the caste system

I wonder sometimes what it would have been like if I had been raised here instead of America. Grown with the country, modernized, westernized. Read the magazines the girls read here, like Femina or New Woman with its articles on how to maintain your bodypiercings or tattoos or on how to break up with your boyfriend. Grown up watching nothing but Bollywood films, tv serials, and MTV Asia. But, I may have not turned out the same way, may not have been inclined to travel the world, work abroad, or make any of the decisions i've made thus far. So i stop wondering.

Anyway i've sort of ranted on without much of a point. but that was what this blog was for i guess, so no apologies or deletions.

I'm heading out tonight for Jodpur to start my trip in India. I'm a bit sad to go as I've become a bit spoiled and will miss hanging out with ami mami and lalu mama. But having this experience was where this whole trip stemmed from so i'm excited to explore india on my own.