A Distant Familarity

It's a different world out here, one I have not kept up with, one I have lost track of, one I have broken away from, but yet one I am strangely familiar with...

After spending close to twenty four hours on air (on flights that were required to be no more than 18 hours in toto) I'm on land now -- and a very different land than one I've gotten used to the past few years -- a land where cows roam freely alongside cars on the streets, where each reckless driver is at his unrestrained best, where autorickshaws often sputter but get you to your intended destination, where you can pull down the window and yell at a fellow human being but no bridges are burned....There's a lot I have to look at, a lot I have to see, and there is no doubt that I will whine and complain, teeth will grind, fist bones may emaciate and hair will soon be dishevelled but something tells me I will love it all the same...

It's still strange that I have to 'get used to' a world I was once accustomed to. I now have to stop short of that "thankyou" I overuse lest the store person thought I was a little too suspiciously affable, I search for words and stop in mid sentence as my mind kick starts a rapid translation and sometimes just plonk whole sentences in English between well crafted sentences in my native language, my hand stands in midair as I reach for that paper towel, I often retrace steps from the wrong side of the car (and more importantly swing across to the "right" side of the street just in time).......