The Great Ganesha

The backdrop to our beautifully designed wedding reception at ‘Dhanush‘ in Navy Nagar. I got married for the second time in Bombay (to the same person).

Spending five weeks in India after an eight-year hiatus made me painfully aware of a neurological need to go to this place called home. Not going there for almost a decade forced some internal switches to be turned off when, for all practical purposes, they should always be turned on. All’s right with the world when they’re on. Rest assured though, they’re on now.

This trip was a hurricane. I don’t know when it hit, where it took me, how I got there, and when exactly it ended. It’s somewhat relieving that it’s over, but it was also weirdly depressing to get back here. The cold weather, nightfall in the afternoon and gloomy skies didn’t help much either.

The last time I went to Bombay, I was in my penultimate year of college here in the U.S., had no idea what I was going to be doing with my life and was basically “hanging around” in Bombay without any particular aims or objectives. Well, none worth having a written record of, at any rate.

This time, I was married, had a Ph.D. (along with a few straggling degrees), a job, the green card, and an apartment in San Francisco. I still have no idea what I’m going to be doing with my life, though. But I made a critical discovery this time. One could even say that it’s earth-shattering. I learned that if you’re married, the relatives don’t seem to care about anything else. They’re too busy grilling the wife on her family structure, her background, the last ten year’s electricity bills to prove residency in Bombay, etc. etc. In the meantime, you can eat the good food, smile at all the appropriate moments, agree with everything she’s saying and you’ll get away scot-free. Amazing.

Guys, I’m telling you, you could be an alcoholic philanderer and they wouldn’t give a damn. Which then leads me to question the entire reason for wanting to contribute to society in the first place. Why bother? Just get married, drink and sleep around. There might be some marital problems in the long-run, but you know, you can always get a divorce in the US and then go back and tell all your relatives that your wife was an alcoholic philanderer, while eating their good food. Then get married again, and repeat the cycle. I’m just saying, this is something to consider – especially for all you single guys.

But I digress. Ponzi schemes to eat good food notwithstanding, with all of the socializing, there was no time or energy to blog (hence the silence). Now, after recovering from the jet lag and all of the other fatigue-related nonsense, I’m back. Posting shall resume with more-or-less usual frequency.

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