Before coming to the US, on multiple occasions my family had reminded me not to try replicate my life in India here. I hadn’t really paid much attention to them at the time. It seemed so silly. Of course, I wouldn’t. Between my classes and keeping myself alive everyday, I doubt I would ever have the time to replicate my old home in my soon to be new home. Yes, I was scared of living alone for the first time. I was decidedly not looking forward to cooking because I wasn’t sure if I would survive my cooking. However, the idea of living alone, like an adult and having independent adventures over shone any of those worries. 

For the first few weeks, I was right. Everything felt like a vacation. I was eating salads with croutons for dinner. Salads! For dinner! Unheard of! I was experiencing grocery shopping for myself. New ingredients in every aisle. If I wanted to eat potato chips and dip as a meal, I could. There was no one to stop me! The first two weeks, I walked everywhere. Some might say I didn’t have a choice because I didn’t have a bus pass yet and taking cabs everywhere wasn’t really in my budget, but you know, I am young! I am outside my home and I choose to live how I want.

Yeah. The excitement didn’t last long.

The first time I felt the drudgery of daily life was when I started making myself a salad and I couldn’t bear the idea of being a grass eating cow for another meal. Okay, that’s fine I thought. I could think of other ideas. The ideas never came. Because I had refused to involve myself in cooking regularly at home, I was what you would call a masterpiece. A masterpiece that you point out to your kids as a cautionary tale. Everyday, I would come up with seemingly cool recipes in my head and try making them. They never turned how I expected them to be. 

This one time I wanted to make myself honey lemon chicken. Please don’t attempt making this at home if you prefer not to eat garbage for dinner. I marinated the chicken in lemon juice, honey, and oil. Then I fried it. Ooh I wish the sum total tasted as great as the individual ingredients, but this is not that kind of a story. I went to bed to bed that night on a half empty stomach and with a bad taste in my mouth.

Cooking was not my only enemy. Cleaning up and ironing clothes. Unlike back home where cleaning meant brooming and then wiping the floor with detergent water, I had the luxury of a vacuum cleaner. So easy and convenient. Just walk around the room pointing the bad boy, swooping all the dirt in. I was very enthusiastic about the whole process. The vacuum was my toy and I was obsessed. That too lasted a week. What nobody tells you about vacuum cleaners is that unless they are some expensive sci-fi looking machine, they’re not going clean your floor of everything. Never have I ever been so scared of going bald as I was when I saw the amount hair strands on my carpet. The vacuum could never manage to suck them up, and once a week, I had to lean on my carpet and go pulling my hair from the carpet. This turned out to be a humungous job which I lost my interest in very quickly. 

Ironing! Do you know how tough it is to iron cotton clothes and fold them perfectly? And then take them out days later to see unsightly wrinkles on them? Pro tip, if you’re living alone and don’t have access to a press-wala, DO NOT buy clothes that you have to iron. Yeah, you’re very fashionable. Yeah you have the hankering to wear those linen clothes that are so a la mode currently. But give yourself a break. It is not worth it my friend, it is not worth it.

Since then, my list of things that I miss about my home have only increased. I miss listening to AIR radio the whole day. I miss staying updated with current music and movies without having to try. I miss someone bringing me food without me having to raise a single finger. And most of all, I miss all the Indian food I took for granted. I miss Swiggy’s cheap food deals. If you have cravings, you better believe that unless you can make it yourself, it’s probably not in your destiny.

Unless you’re rich or have a high paying internship or job. If that is so, call me. I have heard food delivery is fun.