A voice in the darkness

What I’m going to say could get me lynched by a mob of Indian housewives (or stay-at-home moms, to be politically correct), but I’ll say it anyway. These family dramas on Indian television get on my nerves. And I only encounter them when surfing channels. Just can’t stand these never-ending over-the-top saas-bahu (mother-in-law, daughter-in-law) sagas, but I imagine I’ll be whacked on the head with a saucepan if I say this to any woman who plans her household chores around when they are aired. Excuse my ignorance, but I had to google the names of the soaps ruling the roost at present since I have not progressed beyond Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi. The protagonist Smriti Irani has, however, made admirable progress. As a vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, she now takes on Times Now’s Arnab Goswami on the Newshour every now and then. Given that Goswami has the propensity to act like a tyrannical mother-in-law on occasion, Irani has the experience to handle the situation...

It was hardly the stuff dream homecomings are made of. The sickening noise from the engines of the Indian Airlines (rechristened Indian) aircraft preparing for take-off, ensured that my first annual vacation to India began with a two-hour tribulation at Dubai airport. Our ageing plane had ‘surprisingly’ developed a technical snag. At least, that is what the grumpy air hostesses and sleepy pilot said. So much for the Rs 500-crore merger of Air India and Indian, India’s national carriers. One more reason to turn up one’s nose at everything Indian. It’s not difficult to comprehend why people from the subcontinent flock to Dubai like moths to a flame. Exchange rates aside, quality of life is the most pressing of arguments put forward by fellow expatriates. My recent vacation home bolstered this belief, but it also made me realise why dirhams can’t buy happiness and why India will always be home. Landing in Mumbai, after a year of living in Dubai was unnerving. The claustrophobic Fiat Pa...