Visit to the restaurant

It’s a ritual with my family that we go out to a restaurant when I visit them. It is considered a big event because we have ALL our meals home. They are cooked from scratch. I am still amazed that my mom cooks 3 fresh meals a day. I love her food and can eat it to death.

On Dec 27 we visited a restaurant called Three Star. It is close to where we live in Kharghar. It was a very nice restaurant. It was air conditioned (yes, that’s a big deal). We live close to the sea and the mangroves so there are so many mosquitoes here. 4 mosquitoes found their way into the restaurant and really irritated us. I thought I had lost my mosquito killing skills living in Orlando but I’m happy to report that I still have it in me. I killed 2 of those rascals and the other 2 beat a hasty retreat when they realized they were no match for me. There are a couple of tricks to killing mosquitoes. One is that you never look them in the eye. The second is to fool them into carelessness. You let the mosquito sit on you for a few seconds. The thought of a hearty meal makes the mosquito so careless that it lets its guard down. That’s when you open the palm of your hand and whack yourself hard. Wham! And viola! You have a dead mosquito.

Once I got rid of the mosquito menace, the rest of the meal was very good. We ordered butter chicken, naan, daal and panner korma. The meal was delicious. We ended with some ice cream at the local ice cream shop. 

Trip to the Locomotive Shed

I love trains and engines. I have always loved them since I was a kid. My dad worked in the railways and I have traveled in many locomotives. But the charm still remains to this day. So it was a pleasant surprise when I found one of my childhood friends is now working as a Locomotive engineer.  His name is Vijay. Vijay took me to the locomotive workshop and showed me all the electrical engines he repairs. There are 2 sets of engineers. The electrical engineers focus on the motors, coils and electrical equipment. The mechanical engineers focus on brakes, axles, springs, gears etc. The sound of these powerful giant locomotives makes the hair on my arms stand on end. I love to hear the honk of a locomotive. These monsters pull 22 carriages or more without breaking a sweat. They are not extremely fast. They go upto 110 km/hour (70 miles/hour) but it is good enough for Indian conditions. 

The shoe shine boy

I have been very much affected by other people’s pain. It is a heart wrenching feeling. The sheer magnitude of the problem in India however numbs you. There are so many such people in distress in India that after a certain point in time they fade into the background.

 I had gone to a computer training institute on Dec 26^th at 10 AM. The person that I had to talk to had not yet arrived. So I decided to go downstairs to a small tea shop and have a cup of tea. I sat on a wall with a cup of tea in my hands and my feet dangling in the air. A small boy with a bag slung across his shoulders comes to me.

 Boy “Sir, can I polish your shoes for you?”

Me “How much will that cost me?”

Boy “It will be only Rs 5.00 (10 cents)”

Me “Ok. Go ahead and polish my shoes”

 At that point he proceeds to start to untie my laces. I am startled by that. It is disrespectful to make some one else remove your shoes. Touching someone’s feet is a sign of great respect and reverence only to be used in exceptional circumstances.

 Me “I will untie my shoes. Please don’t untie my shoes for me”

Boy “I will do it, Sir”

Me “No, no. There is no need for that”

 I remove my shoes and hand them over to the young boy. He unties his bag, takes out a small box of shoe polish and a brush and diligently starts to polish my shoes. It is a sad sight. He is a very nice kid. He starts to get comfortable with me and starts to talk. He recognizes that I am from Punjab since I am wearing my turban.

 Boy “I am from Punjab too, Uncleji”

 Every one is an uncle or aunt in India. The term is used as a sign of familiarity for elder neighbour’s and acquantiances. Uncles and aunts have formal titles and are rarely referred to as Uncle or Aunt. For example Chacha refers to a fathers brother. So I would call my dads brother as Chacha rather than Uncle. My neighbour, however, will always be Uncle. Suffixing a ji after a name is a mark of respect. So my Chacha would be called Chachaji. If I wanted to call my friend Becky with respect, I would call her “Becky ji”. She would sound like a rapper “Becky G” . Not to digress so I get back to the subject.

 Me “Really? What part of Punjab are you from”

Boy “I am from the village of ”

Me “How long have you been in Bombay now?”

Boy “I have been here for 2 years now. Can I put some varnish on your shoes?”

 Me “Go ahead and put some varnish on my shoes”

 Me “Who do you live with here? “

 Boy “My entire family moved from Punjab. I have a father, mother and 4 other siblings and we live here in Vashi”

 Me “Do you go to school?”

 At this time the boy is polishing the shoes and talking to me at the same time.

 Boy “No, I don’t go to school. But my brothers and sisters all go to school. My father sells blankets on the streets”

 Me “Did you have breakfast in the morning?” I think of buying him some breakfast.

Boy “Yes, Uncleji. I did have breakfast. “

 Me “What did you have for breakfast?” I know the answer to this question because I am from Punjab and we pretty much have the same breakfast.

 Boy “ I had parathas for breakfast”

I break in to grin. “I had parathas too.”

Boy “I have these insoles that I sell for Rs 25. Your shoes could use them. Do you want the insoles?”

Me “Yes, go ahead and put the insoles too”

 Me “Do you manage to make a decent living polishing shoes?”

 Boy “It is ok. Not great“

 Me “What is your name?”

 Boy “My name is Arjun, Uncleji.”

 Me “Do you mind if I take a picture of you?”

 Boy “No.  I don’t mind”

 I take a picture and show him the picture. His face lights up when he see’s himself on the LCD”

 At this point, he is done polishing the shoes.

 Me “How much do I have to pay you?”

 Boy “Rs 35”

 I give him Rs 40 and ask him to keep the change. I am tempted to give him Rs 50 but I don’t want to spoil him. As he leaves, he says “Accha namaste, Uncleji. I hope to meet you agin”. I tell him “Namaste, beta.”

 Young kids like him are fodder for exploitation here. They lose their innocence fast once they are exploited. There is no choice in that matter. Survival on the streets is very hard especially for children. I pray that he is safe in life.

 

The First 9 Days in India

I reached India on Dec 16th at 9 PM. WhileI was on the flight I thought of writing a blog. I realized writing my life makes it seem a lot more interesting than it is. It also makes me appreciate a lot of things which I take for granted.

The flight from Atlanta to Mumbai was long but not as tiring as I expected it to be. The plane was a 777-200 with newer seats. Those planes are a lot bigger than the ones that fly domestically. It carries 305 passengers. The flight was around 16 hours end to end. As an analogy, if cruise liners are floating cities, these airplanes are flying prisons. There are 8 restrooms of which 2 are for business class passengers. The remaining 6 are shared by 250 coach class passengers (of which I was one). Inspite of this, the restrooms were very clean. This is one time I was thinkful the airline didn't serve too much food. I had a window seat and didn't want to keep going to the restrooms.

I made good use of my time by watching some movies that I had missed. I saw "The Kite Runner". Amazing and touching film. It shows the human side of conflict and how it affects the lives of innocent children. I also saw "House of Sand and Fog". Ben Kingsley was great. It's a story about how material attachments end up ruining so many lives. I had seen "Pineapple Express" before so I resisted the strong temptations of seeing it again. I saw "Drillbit Taylor" with Owen Wilson instead. It was funny, light hearted and I didnt feel all gloom and doom.

There is a lot of security in Mumbai (Bombay) now as a result of the terrorist attacks. Customs and immigrations was uneventful at the airport. My mom, dad and sister had come to pick me up. They always do. I tell them that I can take the taxi but they still like to come and pick me up. It makes them feel closer to me so I don't push it.

The cab ride from the airport to home is always a new experience. India is a third world country and it shows. The transition from Orlando to Mumbai is stark. I take stock of the situation on the hour long ride home. There are usually newer bridges, malls, traffic lights every time I come. There is also a lot more pollution and traffic jams. India is a country of too many drastic contrasts. Stinking rich and filthy poor people. Tall striking buildings and dirty shanty towns with no basic amenities. Culturally rich and diverse but slowly losing it's soul.

I thought this would be a short post but now that I am writing, I realize I experienced a lot in the last 9 days. I seem to be running out of time so I will create the template and keep on adding to it.

I'll put up some images and write about them later. Putting up the images will give me incentive to write my blog quicker.