You may be missing India, when you ......

...in the opposite order. :-D

... cook rice and put potatoes in the curry instand of eating them as a side dish.

Conversation:

M: Why do we need potatoes, we have rice?

Me:: I'll add them to the vegetables, and we'll have this with rice!

M: Rice and potatoes, that's weird! I don't like that.

Me: But I like it, reminds me of South India....

...look at the decorations your home town is putting up for St Patrick's Day and wonder why all those Indian flags have been hung the wrong way round. And why none of the flags have got wheels on.

LOL, Andy!!!

My son organised a meetup with Hyacinth and husband George in Perth Western Australia today. It was a surprise my son and Hyacinth had been planning for months. Apparently they were visiting rellies in Aust while monsoon lashes the Indian coast and happened to be in Perth. We had a great chat over coffees and she has talked my wife and son into visiting India with me in the near future. Fantastic to see her and meet the elusive George and 2 of her rellies who live here in Perth. Can't wait for my next trip in Jan/Feb 2014.:clou d9: See you then Hyacinth. Zamba.

This was just too great! Lol'd very hard on this!

You may be missing India when you........ would give anything for a tasty banana.

What is it with bananas in the UK, I've tried everything, fair trade, organic, cheap, expensive, and I swear they all come from the same 'factory'.

Where do they come from ? I am willing to posit that they are from the Caribbean or South&Central America.

Mostly Caribbean and Central America.

all the bananas we get in UK are picked when green and then chemically ripened on the boat over from the Carribbean.
nothin like the ones straight off the bunch in India!!
same with mango' i find too.

You are right. They are indeed cut green, and then processed onboard You can't grow them in the backyard either.

In atleast the part of India that I live in, the bananas are chemically ripened. Heard it from a seller that bananas won't last (in transport an its attendant physical handling) if they are not picked when raw and then ripened artificially. Same goes for mangoes.

May be its to do with the varieties.

You may be missing India when ...

You pop "The Story of India" in the DVD for the hundredth time and find yourself reciting the dialogue a few bars ahead of Michael Wood;

You start reading Indian Cookbooks just for the sheer pleasure and adventure of it;

A few car horns honk, and you are instantly transported to a crowded Indian intersection;

A couple who appear to be Indian enter the restaurant in which you are dining and you feel an overwhelming desire to rush over and announce "Ram Ram";

Your friends began to wince every time you say ... "Well, in India ... ";

You're more interested in the front page of "The Times of India" than "The New York Times";

You immediately head to the Travel section on entering your favorite bookstore to see if there are any new titles related to travel in India;

Then you head to the History section to see if there are any new titles on Indian History;

Then you feel disappointed to discover that there are not.

- You walk through the grass and dirt instead of sticking to the sidewalk
- You wonder if they paved your street while you were away
- You wonder if they painted your building while you were away
- You turn on the tap water and get startled by the amount of pressure
- You giggle at people who complain about trash
- You wince at the price of groceries
- You naively think the cashier is going to be pleasant
- It's 80 degrees fahrenheit and you're cold
- You go outside wearing a blanket around your head
- You count how many peices of toilet paper you're tearing from the roll
- You take a bath from a bucket
- You say "honk" as cars pass you as you walk down the street
- You wonder if you have exact change

You try to accrue as many united miles as possible to fund your next trip.

And good comments about the bananas...best 2 Rs a man can spend!