One Year in India

I moved from Los Angeles to live in India back in January 2009. This past year has been an interesting one:

Travel

• Took one overnight bus and three overnight train rides. And, spent one night on a boat and two nights in tents.
• I visited nine of the twenty-eight states: Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharasthra, Haryana, Punjab, Goa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. I also touched down at an airport in Andhra Pradesh, but am not willing to count that.
• Northernmost point visited: Wagha, Punjab. Southernmost: Alleppey, Kerala. Distance between: more than three thousand kilometers.
• I traveled with Anjali to points on the west coast, on the Arabian Sea, as well as on the east coast, on the Bay of Bengal.
• Anjali and I went on a nine-day road trip across Rajasthan, totaling nearly fifteen hundred kilometers in a car.
• Outside of India, I ventured to Stonehenge and the Pyramids at Giza.

Culture

• I was invited by Richard to attend an Iron Maiden concert. I think I still owe him for my ticket.
• Tried toddy in Kerala for the first and last time.
• Got painted during Holi.
• Learned a bit of Tamil and Kannada, from some of the drivers.
• Learned a fair amount of Hindi, something I intend to keep up with. I am even able to write what I hear.
• Learned a small amount of Punjabi - thanks Tanuj and Nikhil. You guys would have only gotten me into trouble, if I had used anything you taught me.
• I now know how to write my name in fourteen Indian scripts: Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, Oriya, Gujurati, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, Manipuri, Old Manipuri, Punjabi, Assamese, Telugu and Nepali. I have learned how to write Anjali's name in thirteen scripts.
• Did my best to understand and remember the Hinduism relayed to me.
• Received a rakhi from my neighbor, Raina.
• Saw three of the Times of India newspaper's Seven Wonders of India: Taj Mahal, Harmandir Sahib (The Golden Temple) and Bahubali. Bahubali is also the world's largest monolith.
• Spent Diwali in Faridabad, being introduced to most of Anjali's family in Delhi.
• Watched an idol get submerged in a lake during Ganesha Chaturthi.
• Attended a puja for the start of a new business.
• Revisited Delhi to attend Sharad and Aditi's wedding.
• Witnessed the Pakistan border "Lowering of the Flags" ceremony. Neha's father was kind enough to provide us with VIP passes and a government escort from Amritsar.
• While in Rajasthan, we visited Karni Mata temple, filled with approximately twenty thousand rats, as well as India's sole Brahma temple, in Pushkar.

Personal

• Got engaged near the top of a mountain in Wayanad.
• Spent several nights in a hospital on two separate occasions: once when Anjali broke her arm, requiring surgery; and again when I had my hernia operation.
• Watched the clock exclaim, "It is now the new year", from a bed in an emergency room.
• I obtained a drivers license, valid for motorcycles and cars.
• I did something nice for the parents of a street full of kids that wanted their picture taken.
• Am the healthiest I have been since high school, having lost a few pounds and started eating better.
• It was a challenge to work in a foreign country: language barriers, work ethic differences, time zone issues, shipping problems, product availability concerns... It was also quite rewarding to be the technical lead for an animation studio, and to contribute, in small part, to their successful premier release.
• In my life, I have never had more sick time off from work.
• Became the टी टी का माहाराजा, or the "Grand King of Table Tennis."
• I gained some true friends here and I promise to revisit.

There is probably so much more to write. Just looking back over a year spent in India, the memories bring a smile to my face. Bangalore has been "home" for me, and I feel as tied to this city as I ever did to Los Angeles, San Francisco, or anywhere else I have lived in the States. I met Anjali at lunch one Sunday in Bangalore and now we are going to get married. Before I came to India, I had never left North America. In the past year, I have spent time in four continents. It has been a wonderful year and the years to come have much to live up to.