Revisiting America

I have been open about my obsession with America. I recently visited US after 7 years. Revisiting US was like discovering an old T-Shirt which was hiding at the bottom of your wardrobe for many years - feels alien initially but then it fits like a glove but then again, you sneer at your own juvenile fashion choices.

I feel I resonate with US because it has some of the growing pains and dual identities that I have. It was interesting to see how some of my reactions to it have changed over the years. In a way, revisiting was an act of looking yourself into a time-machine mirror - feeling and juxtaposing your feelings with what you felt so many years ago. I went to the US for the first time in 2005 when i was a graduate hire for Microsoft. Its been almost 20 years since i first set foot in the US. So a few things changed.

America's juvenile antics amuse me less and less - I feel so sad/ridiculous that a country supposed so far ahead on so many things can get such basics twisted around - especially heart broken on how their healthcare system is so broken - I heard about how Matthew Perry's doctor is getting tried for allowing his patient to get hooked on some drug etc.
The Brownies have arrived - Indians have truly arrived and have shown that they can be the more American when it comes to work ethic than all its other national constituents. The last time I visited, Indians primarily constituted the coding class in Seattle/Bay area. But now they are in senior leadership and investment community ubiquitously.
America is Great - This young land freshly stolen from the Natives is still awesome. Nature's bounty is too much and lies protected and celebrated by its conquistadors.

Some other random thoughts:

Every pacific sunset tells me about the slow and inexorable change all around us - we are all growing old. My friends are growing old - their children too. Our time at Earth is reducing day-by-day. We cannot take any day for granted. This is the day - this is the Life - Life is happening now and will not be postponed for some mythical milestone sometime in future - it is happening right now as we think and plan for it. I stopped at so many places while driving down US 101 highway to see these epic sunsets. The sudden dramatization of life moving on made me aware of my breath - I effortlessly went into meditation - it was a trance aided by the sudden feeling of urgency.

I am in my flight back to Bangalore. I was looking at the in-flight GPS application - We were flying over the Af-Pak border. I suddenly realized about the first international flight that i took - It was a singapore airlines - It had some crazy number of hops from Hyderabad to Seattle - Specifically, those days, airlines used to take the scenic route covering cities such as: Chennai, Singapore, Tokyo, Los Angeles and finally Seattle. I remember the kid-in-the-candy-store moment. I was not bothered one bit about the constant changeovers and the wierd foods being served. Everything was imbued with childlike curiosity and fascination. I distinctly remembering scorching my mouth by ingesting an inordinate amount of Wasabi. I shudder at a possibility of a similarly long flight - and i shudder also at this tiny loss of innocence.

Subverting cliches by having Iced tea in a coffee shop in Seattle