American Dreams...

My nephew was asking me about life in America. He, a teenager, like most people his age, thinks that he is all grown up and wants to do all grown up things - roaming around with friends, thinking its cool to not study... But this blog isnt about him, he beyond doubt is one of my favorites (and I seriously and honestly believe its mutual). Like most other people here, he too is curious about the revered America; he too wants to visit there, if not live there. All his questions reminded me of this unfinished blog, a blog that I had started writing half-way through December, a blog quite forgotten in my comfort zone in the US and all the traveling that I had been "busy" with. But what really motivated me to finish this is the very same lack of a reason to NOT write it, the lack of traveling to be busy with... Same story, as that of my previous blog.

A quick snapshot of the American Economy - For a 100 bucks, in the US of A -
- A Cab ride to the Airport
- A Flight to Chicago
- A Nice, Very Nice Dinner for 2
- A Nice, but Not-Very-Nice Dinner for 5
- A Cleaner (most probably Mexican) - Vacuum the House once. approx 3-4 hours
- A Cleaner - To clean the fallen fall leaves once (oh the American Fall - yet another unfinished blog in my folder, but this one due to lack of content)

An economy quite different to ours. If you convert everything to Indian currency and compare (something which you should never do, but even IF), you will notice that the cheaper things are generally more expensive and the expensive things are generally cheaper. What we consider luxuries in India - Centrally air-conditioned/heated houses, nice cars (Honda Civic/Accord, Toyota Corola/Camry, though its more like any car for the "aam aadmi") - are everywhere, something every American is oblivious to. Every Indian wants to buy a Honda Civic here, but there Civic is one of the cheaper cars, and Honda has a premier brand, Acura, which makes the "luxury" cars. While the basic luxuries that one can easily afford in India, without even thinking of them as luxuries - the ubiqutous maid, a cook, the dhobi, the jamaadaar (who I have now come to worship) - are very very expensive there. In India, we live as "rajas"; there the same we become "praja". So much so for the BIG AMERICAN DREAM!!