The weather was just perfect, neither hot, nor cold. Yesterday's rain washed out some dirt and settled down the dust. The foliage looked more greenish than gray, though the sky stayed gray for most of the part.
Made a trip to Market Building, the Times Square of Bhubaneswar. Bought a few goodies from UTKALIA, a government owned shop, popular for selling gift items related to Odisha history and culture. Had a nice shopping experience, found the prices quite reasonable. No imposition of vacillating prices and inconvenience from bargaining with touts. The staff nicely packed my stuff, while I spent the waiting time using their free wi-fi.
I was surprised to find places like Cafe Coffee Day, and even Bhubaneswar Club doesn't have a wi-fi. In local parlance, a smart guy is not some one who is creative or intelligent. He is smart, if he is well attired, drives a nice bike, his smartness being directly proportional to the number of girlfriends he carries on it. Bhubaneswar is a not-so-smart city, rather an extended village. Similar to the city's definition, the smartness is more cosmetic, rather the real thing.
Thanks to Dipti bhai for my only tryst with smartness in Bhubaneswar so far. He used the OLA App, a cab service similar to Uber, to call a cab. It fetched me from Swosti Grand, near Master Canteen to my home. It arrived promptly, in less than 2 minutes. My trip home cost me only Rs.109, slightly more than auto fare, but lot more convenient. The service of OLA cab impressed me to enough to tip the driver heavily, which impressed him too.
But I was not so much impressed by my experience at a local market where I bought 5 BIDA (bunches) of my favorite KOSHALA SAGA (A reddish green Saag). At home, my mom after removing a few good leaves from the surface, found those bunches filled with spoiled, rotten ones from inside. I don't mind paying 5 times more, but hate to be cheated by compromised with quality.
Often I have discovered, a person might be expecting to be paid, let's say Rs.500 for certain service. I am ready to pay Rs.1000 for the same. But that person won't open his or her mouth and speak up, as I open my wallet. When pressed upon, would grumble "APANA JAHA DEBE", or "whatever you give". They want me to be a psychic, a mind reader. When I finally pay, either I end up impressing them or disappointing inadvertently. Tomorrow a trip to Puri awaits me..
Made a trip to Market Building, the Times Square of Bhubaneswar. Bought a few goodies from UTKALIA, a government owned shop, popular for selling gift items related to Odisha history and culture. Had a nice shopping experience, found the prices quite reasonable. No imposition of vacillating prices and inconvenience from bargaining with touts. The staff nicely packed my stuff, while I spent the waiting time using their free wi-fi.
I was surprised to find places like Cafe Coffee Day, and even Bhubaneswar Club doesn't have a wi-fi. In local parlance, a smart guy is not some one who is creative or intelligent. He is smart, if he is well attired, drives a nice bike, his smartness being directly proportional to the number of girlfriends he carries on it. Bhubaneswar is a not-so-smart city, rather an extended village. Similar to the city's definition, the smartness is more cosmetic, rather the real thing.
Thanks to Dipti bhai for my only tryst with smartness in Bhubaneswar so far. He used the OLA App, a cab service similar to Uber, to call a cab. It fetched me from Swosti Grand, near Master Canteen to my home. It arrived promptly, in less than 2 minutes. My trip home cost me only Rs.109, slightly more than auto fare, but lot more convenient. The service of OLA cab impressed me to enough to tip the driver heavily, which impressed him too.
But I was not so much impressed by my experience at a local market where I bought 5 BIDA (bunches) of my favorite KOSHALA SAGA (A reddish green Saag). At home, my mom after removing a few good leaves from the surface, found those bunches filled with spoiled, rotten ones from inside. I don't mind paying 5 times more, but hate to be cheated by compromised with quality.
Often I have discovered, a person might be expecting to be paid, let's say Rs.500 for certain service. I am ready to pay Rs.1000 for the same. But that person won't open his or her mouth and speak up, as I open my wallet. When pressed upon, would grumble "APANA JAHA DEBE", or "whatever you give". They want me to be a psychic, a mind reader. When I finally pay, either I end up impressing them or disappointing inadvertently. Tomorrow a trip to Puri awaits me..
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