There are so many things that I want to write about my trip to India that I realized that a single blog is not enough. So I have decided to write it as a series of blogs. What follows is the first part in the series.

I arrive in Chennai by Singapore Air on April 11th at around 10.30 p.m. Without much ado, I clear immigration and customs and walk out of Anna International Airport. I am immediately greeted by the Chennai humidity, the smell of Chennai, the sound of constant chatter, of colorful saris and salwars and by the eager eyes of so many parents, sisters, brothers, children, friends and others who are looking anxiously in the crowd of passengers that are exitting the airport to see if the person who is walking out is one of their own. The one whom they have been waiting for hours, months or may be years.

I start searching this crowd for three such pair of eyes - my mom's, dad's and sis'. I find them immediately to my right which is where I expected to find them because that is the closest one can stand to the exit. I also find my driver in, yet again, his usual spot waiting to snatch the luggage from my hands and load it into the car. I get into the car along with the others and I start home ready to begin my vacation.

The first thing that I notice as soon as we start driving back is the chaotic yet systematic traffic on the roads. This time I dont panic as much as I did last time when my driver is not driving in the center of the lane. I try not to focus my attention on the autos and PTC buses that are zipping past us about an inch away from our car and who at any time can turn left, right or halt without any warning.

We soon reach home and I am happy to step into my home. I remove my shoes knowing that I wont see them for another few weeks. I then wash my feet and go to the Puja Room to thank God for the safe flight and for everything else. After that we sit down to talk.

After an hour of talking, more of an interrogation than talking, about how my flight was, if I slept well on the flight, what have I been doing etc. etc. I open my suitcases, each weighing 32 kgs, to give them the presents I had bought for them. My sis is very happy with her new handbag and earrings and she has already walked into her dream world. She is scanning her mental repository of saris, churis and necklaces matching them with the new ear rings thinking about which would go with what and how many more new churis she has to buy to match the ear rings. My mom is happy with the perfume I got her and she starts analyzing the hand bag and earrings. My dad is content with the shirts I bought for him and he starts looking at the other gifts I had bought and starts asking me the usual questions about the gifts.

It is always hard to buy gifts for guys/men. I envy girls in this regard. They have so much variety to choose from and there are so many giftable items that can be given to them. But men! We are stuck with just pants that come in only 4 colors, shirts that have only 2 designs, razors, shave gel and thatz it. That is not fair.

Anyways, it is nearly 1.00 am now and we are all very tired and soon go to bed.

Next day morning I get up at 7.00 a.m. My sis has already left for work, my dad is out in the garden plucking flowers for offering to God and my mom has just started cooking. Guess whatz on the menu? Of course it is all my favorites. As soon as I walk into the kitchen she asks me why I am up so early and starts making coffee for me. She starts complaining that I have lost weight and attributes it to the fact that I am eating my own cooking inspite of me trying to explain to her that that is not the reason. She, of course, does not pay heed to my words and keeps talking. She tells me how she is going to make me put on weight and what she plans to cook for me today, tomorrow and for the whole 3 weeks that I am going to be here. My father soon arrives and we start talking about my work and the preparations that need to be done for the function next week.