At home in southall

If back in india one mentioned that one lived in London,it would amount to being a big deal.I thought so myself.Living abroad meant so many things as far as i was concerned.Different food,different homes and in england it comes with the bonus of garden and beautiful weather.But having come here I find that the beautiful and unpredictable weather is non existant.Its predictible and hot hot hot.Food ...well englsih food is now curry and rice so its not very different either.As for living,yes the houses are nice and they do have gardens and small streets with trees and dogs walking around.Beautiful parks and endless green.Unfortunately some of us Indians cant live without our Indian customs.Not a bad thing at all but I am of the firm belief that if one lives in a foreign country one must adapt and mingle and integrate.To be treated differently is also because we don't behave like Romans in Rome.

Talk for instance southall.It India in England.When we asked our friend what he wanted from India he said nothing really because ever thing is available here.I didn't quiet believe him until he took me to the supermarket in southall.To start with the signposts are written in Punjabi.Then there are a dime a dozen women in salwar kameez or sarees(considering that the one s who come on holiday don't wear sarees this is interesting).The supermarket itself had every possible item on any Indian menu.So dhals,rice,oils masalas everything except that here there is the added advantage of getting Pakistani and Bangladeshi stuff.The place even has cookers,tavas and whatever else one would want to be indian.Here one does not need to know english,despite being in England.Here there is a strange absence of the local people and one would be forgiven if one thought that one was in punjab instead of a suburb of London.

so much for being in holiday in england,there are so many asians here that it doesn't feel foreign,the language is not new but yes it may have been interesting if i knew hindi.The husband is getting good deals thanks to his hindi while i am being given dirty looks....not knowing hindi is a disadvantage especially in southall.

It does have its advantages though,in terms of never being home sick and all that but i cant help but wonder why the Indians choose this far off suburb to set up shop.The chinese chose the heart of London and the centre of all the fun and poshness.The muslims have their biggest mosque in the heart of regents park,another posh area,but we choose to be in a small suburb that's poorer than most......says something doesn't it.