to my roots. The sights, sounds, smells, everything had this feeling of security, a certain
sense of warmth, a feeling that yes, this is where my heart is frankly! I did a lot of travelling
this time when I was India- visiting relatives and family friends. I was there for about 7 weeks and felt like it was just not enough. After all which married girl would want to leave
her parents behind?
India held a ton of surprises for me. Absolutely everything that you can buy here in the US
is now pleasantly available in India too! Yes, I could not believe this too before I left for my
trip but seeing is believing. I visited numerous shopping malls and was astounded at the
sheer variety of stuff found there. And my oh my are we talking expensive or what! Gone
are the days when things were cheap ( I mean price wise please!) in India. Today there is no
dearth of designer labels and boutiques back home. In Delhi there is this mall ( Arrrrgg, I
forget the name) where the entrance fee is Rs.1000. You read it right, I have not added an
extra zero there mind you. I mean 1000 bucks? Nuts or what? Well, for middle class souls
like me that is too extravagant an amount to be throwing around. But there are people
visiting that mall and whatever!
Travelling by road from Mumbai to Nashik was a delightful experience. The weather was wet
and rainy with clouds almost rushing to welcome you sitting in the car. Yes, I love the rains.
There was this amazing little ceramic store on the highway from Mumbai to Nashik. There
was nothing to beat this store in terms of all the other high end stores that I visited. And if
you saw the location of this ceramic store you would wonder! Right off the bathrooms that
people visit when they want a bio break from a long journey. The store is really small, the
items are so close to each other that you might even crash a few things to the ground if
you throw up your hands in the air with excitement on seeing the colors and variety.
Splendid isn't it? Right now I am thinking why I didn't buy a few more things from the store. Alas! This is the price you may for living so far away! I was worried that my ceramic stuff might break on the way here to the US. I just picked up a couple of things from this wonderful store. And the best thing is that I could bargain here for whatever I liked, now that's a different story that I just don't know how to haggle! So I finally landed up buying at the full price, but it was reasonable nevertheless.
Nashik is a developing little city and I have some very very fond memories of this place. It is where my nani and nana lived for many many years. I visited them every summer when I was a child and when it was time to leave nashik behind to come back to mumbai I felt miserable. Maybe next year when I come to India again, I will visit nashik once more and this time I am definitely going to buy a whole lot more from this ceramic beauty!
