Day IX and X in Bhubaneswar - India trip 2025

 With age, the appetite of humans for sex diminishes. As one ages the sex drive resides more in the brain than body, the physical prowess gradually slows down with human body refusing to cope up, unable to match with the fantasies and longings in mind. I am discovering similar feelings with my eating habits. I am salivating at every good food which comes my way, wanting to eat all of them lavishly. But my body refuses to cooperate and my stomach gets filled up quickly. Just sampling the food feels fulfilling, rather than eating a full meal. Guess it's part of the aging process with gradually abating body metabolism.

Yesterday my OLA driver was a local brat, born and brought up in Bhubaneswar unlike most of his counterparts who are late migrants from other places. He doesn't like these outsiders who he thinks are dirty, uncouth folks lacking finesse vis a vis the suave, civil, big hearted Bhubaneswariyas. As he slammed his breaks hard to avoid hitting a bike which suddenly came in front of the car nowhere, he broke into mild Odia expletives - "SALA (denotes wife's brother but colloquially means seducer of sister of whom so ever it's directed at) they used to live in the squalors in their native villages and possess zero civic sense. They come to GOLAM NAGARI (Slave city, alluding to the rapidly developing portion of the city by those natives who pride themselves as the original city citi-gens). These cockroaches live like POKA-JOKA (insects and leeaches) in illegally constructed houses. SALE SABU CHIPI HEI MARANTU (Let those guys whose sisters I seduce get trampled and perish). As the recalcitrant bike owner fled away glancing at us, my OLA driver continued - "APANA DELHANTU (You see). These pollutants of Bhonsar might have lived their whole life in Sambalpur, Balasore, Koraput or Barhampur. But once they buy a house or flat in Bhubaneswar, they claim themselves as Bhubaneswariya. They can't become a true blue blooded Bonsariya in their entire life".

In Odisha each day of the week has its own food related significance. You chose to go vegetarian or be a consumer of non-veg food, the way a meat, fish and poultry eater is called in local parlance on certain days of a week. Most Odias stay vegetarians, some even avoid Onion & Garlic, called TAMASHIK (titillating carnal desire) food on the following days.

MONDAY - Day of Lord Shiva.
TUESDAY- Day of Ma Mangala and Hanuman.
WEDNESDAY - Budhei Osha. Few practice this though. Most devour non-Veg foods after a hiatus of two days of vegetarianism.
THURSDAY  - Goddess Laxmi and Saint Sai Baba. Mostly women stay vegetarian than men on this day.
FRIDAY - Santoshima Brata. Devotees of the Goddess apart from avoiding non -Veg food avoid KHATTA (tangy) stuff like lemon etc.
SATURDAY - Lord Shani and Hanuman. Quite few number of folks stay vegetarian this day.
SUNDAY - Lord Surya. Not many respect the Sun God as Goat meat features on the menu at most Odia homes during lunch.

That leaves non Veg food on the plate for only Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Friends and relatives crowd my schedule by inviting only on those days. I beg them to cook Bhata, Dalma and simple vegetarian food and invite me on any of these vegetarian days as my stomach and schedule can handle so much. But they refuse to relent. Though I have absolutely no question about their hospitality, force feeding of meat, fish and poultry need not be mandatory for a guest to be satisfied.

My phone is in Airplane mode here and only accesses internet wherever Wifi is available. That's good. I deliberately kept that way to minimize my screen time. So, like good old days when I visit someone, I whould rather focus on spending time chatting with that person without having to check my phone intermittently.

Lot of things here are done in a quirky way, especially for someone who hasn't done any public dealing for a long time in India. When I ask the amount I need to pay after the service is received, often the answer is - "AGYAN. APANA JAHA DEBE" (Respected so and so. Pay whatever you wish). This often puts me in a quandary. The person might be expecting Rs.500 and I am ready to pay Rs.1000, but I am expected to be a clairvoyant and read the inside of that person's mind to know his expectation. I invariably press them until I hear a ballpark amount from them and pay accordingly. Occasionally they step forward - "AGYAN KAMA TA HEIGALA. TIKE CHA, PANI"- "Your work is done. How about some Tea and Water !" I get the hint and promptly oblige, still unsure and without clue about the right amount of "Tea and Water". But from the look of satisfaction on their face it could be presumed that I sure did "Tea and Watered" them well without leaving any stone unturned. 

I saw a girl driving a Scooty, not wearing an helmet and checking her mobile at a traffic stop. Too dangerous ! Is it that important to put the life on the line to be online with this kind of unsafe driving ? Can't the check on the latest reel or post from the WhatsApp University wait until the driving is done ?

A man goes to an astrologer, who after reading his chart said- "You will be begging after two years". "What will happen after 2 more years ?" asked the curious and now somewhat concerned guy. The astrologer responded - "Don't worry. You will get used to it". Now I can proudly proclaim of getting used to the chaotic, snarling traffic and the unsafe driving in Bhubaneswar. More later...