- Friends and family – goes without saying.
- Food – We have Indian restaurants in Canada. Lots of them. What we don’t have is the authentic Indian taste that you can only find in restaurants in India. We have street foods (like gol gappa). But we don’t have the gol gappe waali rehri. The experience of standing by the rehri and being served the gol gappe fresh by the gol gappe waala bhaiyya.
- Cheap labour – Oh how I miss the comforts of cheap labour in India. Naukars and chhotus. Maids to cook, maids to clean, maalis (gardeners), drivers...When I was in India it didn’t feel like luxury to have all these helpers, it was the norm. I took it for granted. But in Canada, I have to do most of the work myself. Whenever I do hire help, I certainly feel like I am spoiling myself.
- Festivals, especially Holi and Diwali. We do have some celebration around Holi and Diwali, but compared to how big it was in India, it is nothing. But I think what I have lost by not having big Diwali and Holi celebrations; I have certainly gained by Christmas and Halloween celebrations here.
- Punjabi weddings –There are many
Punjabis in Canada and as a result, many Punjabi weddings happen here. I have
been to some. But none of them felt as grand as the ones I attended in Punjab.
I miss the grand wedding resorts in Punjab and the way they get dressed up with
a million flowers and lights. I miss the never-ending variety of food that
waiters serve you non-stop (as opposed to self-service in weddings here). And I
miss outdoor parties (weddings, receptions and sangeets). Here all the parties
I have been to were indoors.
- Not getting distracted by English subtitles in Bollywood movies. I am very fortunate that most of the new Hindi and Punjabi movies play in theatres around me. But my first world problem with watching them in Canada is that I cannot help but read the English subtitles at the bottom of the screen.
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| Thanks to my friend Shruti for this awesome picture! |
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