I have kicked in the thought with the blog title. No preamble, no arriving at the point.
"Why die in Norway; when you can die in Mumbai?!"
Now I will meander on.
When we lived beyond the shores of our homeland, we felt more Indian than we were in our own houses. We felt the need to eat controlled versions of chicken tikka masala and pilaf every now and then. We would go to dandiya dances organised in suburbs where we would not like to be seen in otherwise. Hindi movies, however trashy, seemed alluring just because it was our own! We would pay good money in foreign currency for over priced garam masala, but we would think twice before hailing the cab on a cold night to avoid the walk back home from the tube station.
A personal choice has brought us back to India and now we never miss out regaling our dinner party guests with stories of how it was there! My husband travels abroad even today but with an entirely different mindset. He confided that he keeps to himself and talks only when absolutely necessary to people he does not know. Dont arrive at the conclusion that he's an introvert. Its quite the contrary. He is quite a chatty person and is good at making friends. But now he feels the need to hide behind the same question - why die in Norway, when you can die in Mumbai?!
We read about intolerance. Muslims hate Jews. Whites hate Blacks. Yellows hate the Browns. The prudes hate the gays. The Chinese is building dams over most rivers in Asia. The French does not give in to the compulsion to allow the burqa. The Norwegian feels threatened by multiracialism. The Bangladeshi feels we are too domineering.
Let's face it, intolerance is all pervading. Religious intolerance, idealist intolerance, gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance!!! Will 'tolerance' get reduced to being a core subject in schools and colleges alongside psychology, anthropology? I cannot tolerate the idea!!!!
