Feeling Home – It’s not just the SUN!

My only non-home advantage has become a mirage (I only see those nowadays!). It is blazing hot and brings back memories of Chennai. But you know it! It is not one of those happy nostalgic moments. However, I am feeling home for more than one reason. My experiments with different food at different places turned out pleasant yesterday when I had dosa at a lari(road side shop in Gujju). I was waiting patiently for my onion-masala dosa and my colleague fought his way out of the crowd carrying two dosas over his head with a triumphant smile. My olfaction was at its best as the dosa came close.  And the moment I tasted it, I knew the cook’s DNA had some part of Tamil in it. Post savouring it blissfully, I met the cook and his looks had “I am a Tamilian” all over him. When I started conversing in Tamil, he seemed startled initially giving me the look “How the hell did you know?” rubbing his sweating forehead (as I imagine, trying to rub his Tamilian look off his forehead). Eventually, when he replied, the sound of Tamil in an alien place was the best feeling I could ever ask for! We instantly hit it off. His other customers extended their plates for more sambar and chutni giving us a quizzing look. For a moment, the guy was so into talking with me that he did not notice the customer asking for extra chutney and it pissed off the waiting customer. Instantly, he apologised in Gujju (Yes! He ought to speak Gujju staying here for more than a decade) and the very next second he turned to me and passed a witty comment (Typical Tamilian way!) on these demanding people here! Both of us roared in laughter. His parting comment was, “Dosa saapdla naalum adikadi inga vanga!”(Come often even if you don’t want to have Dosa). I just waved him back thinking, his customer base just increased by one and I just found someone to talk with! A true moment of mirth!

TURNING GUJJU….

Survival mode – Week 1.

My 2 months internship experience in Baroda (I prefer Baroda to Vadodara simply because it needs lesser key strokes! Also, it sounds better to me) last year did not help me mentally to move here.  There is a plethora of reasons for my reluctance. First one is definitely food.  Although the Gujju food tastes alright to a Chennaite, end of the day (meal) he would prefer filling his tummy with rice, rice and only rice. With loads of homemade snacks, ready to mix pastes, and strict instructions on how to cook yourself without burning your fingers, I landed as a neighbor to my colleague, who happens to be a Gujju himself. Secondly, it is the language. Not many South Indians are silver-tongued with Hindi, let alone other North Indian languages. With my limited Hindi skills, I embarked onto a very interesting phase of my life. Thirdly, night life in Baroda is lesser than zero. Anyone who comes from the metros and cosmos will have initial hiccups to get used the new life unless they were tea toddlers back home. One has to find amusement in new things, let’s say, to laugh at yourself when you find it ridiculously difficult to explain your non-english speaking neighbours, “What you are cooking” with your Hindi you learnt in primary school days!

However, every cloud has a silver lining and so does this place. I am hoping to explore the other side of Baroda and me!