Goodbye Uncle Sam!!

The time had come to bid adieu. It was a long fought and hard thought decision. It wasn't that tough to make the decision, but it was tough to time it and tougher to stick to the timeline.

On the brighter side, no more freezing temperatures, no more winter boots, no more wrap-me-up-in-4-layer clothing, no more back breaking snow removal and certainly no more of check-the-website-before-you-step-outside protocol. On the other side, no more of fall colors, peaceful long drives at midnight, no more long weekend flight trips, no more of multiply-savings-by-45 to see a larger smile :).

In more than one sentimental way, we got very much attached to NJ. After all, that is the place our son was born. The life in NJ started rather boringly, at least for my wife, with literally no known faces around. We must thank all my friends who soon became her friends too. Thanks to Skype, we didn't miss our family much. Given that even marriages nowadays almost happen thru Skype, one can't complain about not being in touch with the family when one has Skype.

Weekdays were mechanically monotonous with the 9 to 6 work schedules and late night calls. The weekends were a well deserved relaxation for a week's hard work. The first few weekends went in shopping, shopping and some more shopping. A few more weekends after that went in unpacking the baggage from India and setting up the house. The kind of shopping that Desis like us do in the US on weekends will tire out any strongly built human bodies.

First there is the essentials (milk) for which you go to Shoprite, Krogers or Pathmark (this visit is almost every other day), next there are certain desi essentials (from pudhina paratha to puliogare podi), stop over at Indian store, then that visit to Kohls to use the $20 off weekend coupon by buying $100 of needless apparel and then for big-ticket items, one last stop at Costco or Sam's club. Hold on, the weekend isn't over, even after all this, we used to catch a couple of flicks in DVDs at home. Whoa, loaded weekends those were!!

The long weekend that used to pop up once in a while was a godsend. Especially in US, the long weekends are marketed well by the airline industry. Sometimes, you get deals that you couldn't refuse. We used to plan well ahead of time and take trips over the long weekend, flight trips or road trips, anything that gets out of home was a true relief. After such long trips, we will feel re-energized to resume the daily routine while eagerly turning the calendar for the next long weekend.

First year, we were only able to visit Florida, SFO, Niagara and Virginia as our then soon-to-be-born son restricted our mobility :). Then came a couple of lovely family times, one, our parents-in-laws' stay with us and the other, our parents' stay with us. Once he was about 6 months old, we started our trips again. We covered Niagara (yeah, once again), Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon, Washington DC, Vermont, Pittsburgh, Florida (this time for my son) and finally Smokies. The last one was literally an icing on the cake, unforgettable get-together with all my NJ friends and their families. Apart from these long trips, there was the small matter of visiting Liberty statue and NYC every long weekend that we stayed home. Bitter-Sweet gifts of staying close to NYC.

Though the life was all happy and enjoyable during the trips, once in a while we used to feel the loneliness. When our friends or cousins get married or have a get together, we will desperately want to move back. All Indian functions are celebrated in the same way in US. Dress up, visit the temple and finish the day off with a meal at Indian restaurant. Those are the times we really used to question ourselves, how long must we keep doing this. As our son grew up, we felt more and more of that emptiness and loneliness in our lives, especially in our son's life. It must have been greatly boring for him to play with the same toys over and over again. The NJ winters were the final nails on the boredom coffin we enclosed ourselves in.

Hence we made the decision to move back to India in the summer of '11 and be back with the family forever. Though we sometimes miss some of the niceties we used to enjoy in US, the pleasure of living in India with parents and relatives outweigh those niceties and the pollution, traffic and political issues that people cite for not settling in India. While it lasted, we enjoyed our stay in the United States of America.