The Grinch Who Left India

Every Indian down in Indiaville liked India a lot but the Grinch who lived West of India...did not. It may have been because his shoes were too tight , it may have been because his heart was two sizes too small but staring down from his hotel with a strange grinchy frown. "I must find some way to get out of this place! For tomorrow, I know, all those Indian Drivers will rush to their cars then the noise noise noise noise, there's one thing I hate, all the noise noise noise noise. They'll squeak beep and tweet, they'll blow all their horns." The Grinch sighed some more, ``Then the Indians down in Indiaville will sit down to a feast, they will feast and they will feast and they will feast feast feast feast. They will feast on Spicy Dal with Spicy Masala Rice and Spicier Masoor Dal on the plate to the right. They will eat Spicy Palak Paneer with Spicier Tandoori Chicken. They will even put chili powder on their Fruit Salad piled high. Then they will do something I hate most of all, they will turn on the music and a singer will start singing. She will sing and she will sing and she will sing sing sing sing in that high alto range which makes my ears ring."

The more the Grinch thought about it the more he knew. ``I must get back to the West, why for 153 days I have put up with it now, I must find a way...but how?`` Then the Grinch got an idea, he got an awful idea, the Grinch got a wonderful awful idea. ``I know what to do`` said the Grinch with a sneer ``I`ll buy a ticket on one of those great silver birds, that`s how I will do it, I`ll go back to the West``. He crept down the stairs, his bags in his hands, the lobby was dark, the guests in their rooms. He stuck his head out into the warm Indian night then he slithered and slunk with a smile most unpleasant out to the cab stand and stuffed his bags in the boot one by one.  Then he slunk to the Ice Box where he didn't take the Spicy Bhaji and the Spicy Masala Dosa, he left the Son Papdi, the Rasgullah, the Jangri, and Lassi. The Grinch even left the last can of Gulab Jamb.

It was a quarter of dawn when he packed up his cab, his clothes and his trinkets packed into his bags. An hour to the Airport, up up up did he travel. At the terminal he paused, looking around, and the Grinch with his Grinch feet very far from the snow stood puzzling and puzzling, ``Why don`t I want to go? With all the noise and the dust and the heat and the smog! Why wouldn't I want to leave this behind?`` He puzzled and puzzled til his puzzler was sore, then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. "Maybe it isn't about what you are doing or even where you are doing it, maybe perhaps it`s a little bit more. Maybe it is about the people you meet when you journey near and far. The honest, open and real people who take you into their hearts." What happened then, in Indiaville they say, the Grinch`s small heart grew three sizes that day. Then the true meaning of India came through in a flash and the Grinch found that he had the strength of ten Grinches....plus two. Now that his heart didn't feel so tiny, he was able to board the plane in the early morning light. Though he was leaving India for his home in the West, India would never ever leave him and wasn't that best!