A Bit of Cali in 'Luru

There are times in Bangalore when I look around and it almost feels like I am back home in California.

Some of those times are comforting and just what I need when I get home sick (like when I went to the Forum mall to see James Bond and had a surprisingly good and not-too-Indianized taco salad at the food court). Other moments tell the familiar story of globalization and American corporate imperialism in India, such as my drive to work as I pass the offices of Dell, KPMG, Target, GE, Deloitte, etc. when I almost feel like I am back in my Silicon Valley. And there are always those moments of nostalgic bliss when I run into another expat Californian and can drop my “neutralized American accent” for a few prized minutes and speak like the real Valley girl that I am(!).

Most of the time, I am thrilled to have but one culinary or linguistic throw-back to my days in Cali, but this week I oddly enough had quite a few.

There were the good ones:

- The impromptu tribute to Tupac including California Love Thursday night at my gym.
- Mingling with fellow Golden Bears and the UC President Bob Dynes at a Cal alumni event on Wednesday.
- Discovering how to make cream cheese (one of the things that I miss the most from home!) from scratch. Not quite Philadelphia, but pretty close.
- Watching American Idol on TV. (I loved the first girl, btw. I think that she could win the whole thing!)
- Seeing the new Dockers store that opened up on 100 Foot Road that has a massive billboard featuring Golden Gate Bridge on the side. I pass it every day on the way home from work and it makes me smile every time I see it!
- Finding out that my Dad is coming to visit me in Bangalore in mid-April.
- Meeting a girl at the Park Hotel bar last night who is applying to Berkeley for business school and talking to her for half an hour about all the amazing things about Berkeley and the Bay Area.

And then there were the bad ones:

- “Excel”ing at work all day long for a week straight because I was working on projections for my upcoming product launch (so much work to do!). I actually have been seeing those numbers and Excel formulas in my dreams this week! My nerdy side, truth be told, really liked it, but it was way too much like my old days of number crunching at Clorox!
- The frat party scene that emerged at my house on Friday AND Saturday nights without my prior knowledge OR consent! Eeeerrghh!! I do not want to be reminded of crazy Freshman year of college 7 years after the fact!

Thankfully the good far outnumber the bad on this list, as they usually do, and that’s what makes life in Bangalore so much easier.

The truth is that I have learned to relish in the good moments like those that I had this week because they are really all too fleeting. There may be all of these memories of home, but this is still India and I know that right after Dell and before the Dockers sign, just after I pass the Pizza Hut on the right, there’s a pretty good chance that a bullock cart will decide to stroll across a four-lane highway bringing the rush hour traffic to a halt. And then I’ll remember that I am indeed 10,000 miles away from good ol' California.

Oh, and did I mention that the power just went out as I was writing this entry for the second time this week? It’s a little weird how I don’t even blink an eye now when that happens.

Reading: Lonely Planet India (planning the last minute details for my holiday with Valsa
next week!)
Listening to: The Alabina and Gipsy Kings playing at the bookstore/coffee shop where I wrote this entry

A.B.