"atri's new India Page" India by atri

India is a special place in the world.

i should try to avoid common phrases used by most of ppl and instead find my own words. it is not easy coz many reflections and feelings/emotions about India perhaps pretty similar for all ppl visiting it. so it is not my fault...

i can say - i feel home in India. i guess it should be one of things which wouldn't repeat anything or very little of other ppl. ever since my first arrival to India in Jan '93 and seeing the grayish fog or mist or smoke over the palm trees in New Delhi international airport - my first glimpse at India, still sharply fresh and deeply impressed into my mind's still-motion picture - I've always had this feeling : I'm home. very strange: totally different in all aspects of perception and sensations, rather giving from the very begining deep so called "cultural shock" as well as many other shocks, nevertheless it always gives me such a contradicting feeling! amazing... i can't explain it coz i don't understand it myself. i understand India and its ppl, feel it and them despite all mixed reactions it creates, many of which are negative. i checked and confirmed this feeling of identifying myself and belonging to it every time i'd cross the border from Bangaldesh at Benapol/Haridaspur point. same bengali ppl on both sides of border, but once i'm on the indian side i feel whole athmosphere is different - i feel home...

i think this is main reason why it is difficult to write about it : how much u can tell about ur home? it is just part of u and ur life, u r so much used to it that it is nothing special for u, although the only place where u have all those warm sensations inside ur chaste as security, comfort, shelter, roots, belonging, happiness after all - u can try to continue this list of what means 'home' for u...

u may be sometimes bored of it, angry or irritated or opposite, but still same feeling occurs once u return back to it, especially after long journey: "i'm home".

so i do feel there, although i'm aware that it is special place in the world....