It is going to be a month since I am back from Belgium. I was in Belgium for more than 4 years, so I cannot avoid comparing things between Belgium and India.

Probably India remains the same in many aspects, but I have changed. I am looking with different eyes.

I am staying with my sister’s family. When I get back home, there are people to talk to, make jokes and have fun, though the time is seldom more than an hour. My sister and her husband come home not earlier than 21h00. When I walk on the streets, the games that kids play are familiar. I can understand what they talk to each other. Anywhere I go, I dont have any language issues that I had in Belgium. The betterness of being here stops there. I am especially annoyed by the way people are treated. There is no respect for human life. May be it has to do with the huge population. Power or money or position commends respect. If you appear to have none of these, then forgot about being treated well. Even at office, I was asked to wait for three days before meeting my would-be project manager. No timing was given. “Just wait, whenever he has time, he will call you”. For god’s sake, I am an employee of this organization for 5 years. Bottomline, dont expect respect. If you get it, be happy. When I say thank you or just be polite, people look at me as an alien. They are amazed. I am relearning the concept of integration to be one with my own community.