Not if but when!

Something has been brewing for some time, a little behind the scenes. Now I have permission to tell you, it's official: we are coming back to Lille, probably by the end of the year! Why? The results of the subcontractors on my husband's project are less than satisfactory. He's been having a hard time making it work for over 18 months. So now the banging head against wall can stop!

I will have been in Bangalore for just over a year. It's been an intense experience. It's difficult to imagine the levels of poverty here, people in huts made with whatever they can find, living side by side with the 5 star hotels and shiny multi-nationals. The difference in culture with the West and the position (or general lack of it) of women in society. The omnipresence of castes. And perhaps the most difficult fact: the childhood of many stolen, and replaced with begging and other work.

This is all very negative. Overall, the quality of life is improving in India, even though it feels like it's progressing milimetre by milimetre. 1 step forward with hope, 2 steps back with corruption! Indians are very ambitious and will always dream big so perhaps this helps balance it out. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, in the gutter, but looking at the stars. The Chinese however, are taking English lessons, one of India's great selling points, so we'll see what happens...

For us, in any case, we are coming back. It's been great to have this opportunity to live somewhere completely different, travel around and meet so many interesting people. To connect and share a moment have been my richest experiences here. At a party, in a temple, in a street, in a shop, in a rickshaw...

And now we have a new challenge and a new life in France!

Photo by Elmada on flickr.com