Because of this thread, and all the tsunami news, in which I have been alternately worried about my family and then not worried about them but worried about everyone else, I have been missing India pretty severely lately.
So here’s to pani puri on the streets. To skinny *rickshaw * drivers that can go up steep hills with fat ladies in saris. To driving my very first motorcycle, on back roads, with no license or permission, at top speeds, very dangerously.
To 1001 cold remedies when you are sick.
To calling everyone “Brother” or “Sister” including shopkeepers.
To the temples, with marble floors, and silk clothes and jewels on the deities.
To the flowers. Thick, heavy strands of jasmine when I have to encourage mine to put out even 20 flowers at a time.
To the bus conducters. How many people can fit on a bus? One more.
And most of all, to my loving, kind, generous family, especially my cousins. And of all of them, most of all to my beloved cousin Kapil in Panipat. If the world had been a little different, and you hadn’t been born as my first cousin, I think you would have made an ideal mate.
I love you and miss you. 