I Miss-

1. Going to sleep with a leg over my sister.
2. The smell of fried onions on Sundays when dad cooked meat.
3. The tanginess of paani puri and the mouth watering pakode on rainy days.
4. Saying “dada, jaben na ki?” to the cab driver.
5. Singing the national anthem in school everyday.
6. Hushed conversations, sweating inside telephone booths on sweltering days.
7. Sweating in general (unless I am at the gym).
8. Bargaining prices and the unnecessary, yet customary, “Achhe dekhke subzi dena” to the shopkeeper, and the equally feigned “Haan haan, bilkul fresh hai”.
9. My kids at school wishing me, and then a few girls coming up to me after class and smiling shyly, “You look very nice in a sari ma'am”.
10. Ma asking me- “And who was that you were whispering to over the phone to for so long?”
11. My best friend and I making plans of running away to Africa someday. 
12. The irritating tunes of those K-serial songs I knew so well, since every TV in the neighborhood would be switched on in the evenings.
13. The librarian telling me- 5 baj gaye hain (it's 5pm now), the library is gonna close now, and me saying- 5 minutes more please (libraries are open 24 hours on weekdays here).
14. Rushing to catch the last metro and fretting over the fact that dad would be mad at me for getting back home at 10 pm (most of our parties start at 10 pm here).
15. Staying abreast of every new Bollywood movie, thanks to my trailer-watching addiction. 
16. Bengali graffiti on the walls.
17. Double checking if the hand-written “bill” the local shopkeeper gave me was added correctly.
18. Home made raw mango sherbet during the summer.
19. Raiding sis's or mom's wardrobe to wear something interesting at parties.
20. Whining to my friend that I have never been to Goa and she has been to. Now, she whines that she has never been to the US.
21. The hang of having exams once a year. I now take them almost once a week.
22. Looking at the US flag at the USEFI and telling myself- someday I'd be there.
23. Eating in plates and leaving them in the sink for the domestic help.
24. Making a fuss whenever mom cooked spinach or raw banana curry.
25. Asking dad in office what is he gonna get for me on his way back, and dad calling mom on his way from office and telling her, “Don't cook dinner tonight. I am getting Biryani for the kids”.
26. Giving missed calls at home while they called me back. Now, they give me missed calls and I call them back.
27. Sending texts and missed calls to friends. Here, you pay for texts too. 
28. Threatening mom I'd go to sleep on an empty stomach if she didn't make goat meat in the next 2 days, and she actually telling me that I was welcome to do so, for this way I could lose some weight.
29. The prasad from neighbors after the Puja, and the sound of conch shells.
30. Asking mom to wake me up at a certain time the next day, and going to sleep in peace. It is my shrill alarm clock that does the job now. And in case I have exams, I make sure that I keep the lights on so that I sleep light.
31. Not having to worry where my next meal is gonna come from.
32. Waking up in the mornings and demanding dad to come and sit by the bed so that I would hold his hand before I decided to leave bed.
33. Going to class only to be told by the prof that he has decided not to teach that day for some unknown reason.
34. Gandhiji smiling on Indian currency. They are different heroes now.
35. Calling up Munnu on a random day and demanding- BUNK CLASSES, I WANNA HAVE PIZZAS !!!!!
36. Dad screaming suddenly while watching the Discovery Channel- “Come here quick, see how rockets fly!” while I'd escape at the first signs of commercial ads.
37. Those ritualistic fights with dad and arguments with mom.
38. Watching every second movie in cinema halls. 
39. The unannounced (or announced) arrival of guests at home. I don't get to entertain guests here.
40. Going over to the terrace and looking up at the moon and the stars.
41. Wedding invitations, those cards that somehow looked all the same to me, and me pleading with dad- But please I do not wanna go, I don't even know anybody there.
42. Locking myself up in the bathroom every time the train left the platform, in fear of the eunuchs. I used to be so scared of them.
43. The painful site of little children and old people begging on the streets.
44. Railway stations, and their all familiar sights and sounds and smells.
45. The fear while crossing the streets in India, and the joy every time I would make it.
46. Grandma, and her aloo parathe. She telling me about how thin and pale I looked every time she saw me, and her defending me in front of mom all the time.
47. Kali Puja, Holi, and Durga Puja. It isn't the same here.
48. Getting welcome holidays on these frequent Bandhs.
49. Talking to friends while not having to calculate the time difference.
50. Locking myself up in the bathroom while I cried so that nobody would see me. Now I cry in my own room out in the open and nobody knows. 

What are you missing today?

sunshine.