Summer in America is time for young minds graduating from Schools and Colleges, followed by Graduation parties to celebrate the occasion. I am reminded of one such graduation party evening couple of years ago. The crowd consisted mostly of PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin) - Gujaratis, Punjabis and South Indians. Incidentally we were the only Odia family present at the occasion.
My son got busy with his friends and my wife found ladies for company. I was quietly sipping a large Mango Mohito cocktail at a corner by with me and myself as company. Sensing my loneliness a guy approached me, sitting next to my chair. After we exchanged perfunctory pleasantries, as normally Desis (an ubiquitous nicknamed for folks of Indian origin in America, often in a deregatory way) do, the Gujarati man asked which part of India I was from. I replied - "I am an Odia from Odisha". He appeared confused. I continued - "Have you heard of Jagannath temple in Puri. I am originally from that place", hoping it could ring a bell.
"Oh, Jagannath Dham ?" - He exclaimed and went further "We have the Lord's Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad every year." I responded - "Of course, you do. But Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra is very special. About a million congregate on the world famous occasion. Puri is in Odisha". He said - " Oh, is it so ! I thought Puri is located in Bengal".
The ignorance about Odisha and Odias wasn't new to me. In one of my trips to India, inside my Paris to Delhi flight I was sitted next to a Punjabi lady who was traveling with her baby. During our tete-a-tete she mentioned that she lives in Boston and glad that her long journey ends at Delhi. I said to her - "I am not so fortunate. It will be at least a five hour arduous wait in the middle of night with jet lag at the Delhi Airport before I catch the morning flight to Bhubaneswar".
Now I could see surprise in her eyes - "Bhubaneswar ? Where is it and how far from Delhi ?" I replied - "It's the capital of the state of Odisha". "I am sorry, I have no idea where is Odisha", she said. "Well, do you know Jagannath Puri ? " was my response thinking the better known Lord Jagannath temple of Puri will at least ring a bell. The Punjabi lady's eyes sparkled a bit as she suddenly came with an answer - "I have a relative Jagannath Puri who lives in Greater Kailash, Delhi". I got my answer.
It was getting late in the evening at the party. The western sky suddenly turned darker, cool wind started blowing as harbinger of impending rain, brutely forcing the giant crimson son in the horizon into hibernation as constant drizzle forces us to get inside the house. I had already imbibed couple of large glasses of Mango flavored Mohito cocktails. My bladder was full. I went inside looking for bathroom and found it locked and occupied. I checked back minutes later. The bathroom was still occupied. My bladder was about to burst and I desperately needed to open my valve. The sole unisex rest room kept on being occupied, testing my patience.
Twilight had given away to darkness outside as rain had tapered into light drizzle. Looking around and making sure no one was noticing, I ventured to a corner of the fence to relieve myself, whistling a song, letting out a jet stream. As a fitting finale I was about to shrug off the residual piss - a rare pleasure to urinate under "MUKTA AKASHA" (open sky) in America, looking around to make sure no one was noticing my sneaky escapade.
So I thought ! All of a sudden I heard a growling sound of a big, burly canine across neighbor's fence. It was followed by loud barking, only the wooden Deewar (fence) separating us. Not impressed with me encroaching its neighborhood territory, the doggie was standing in two legs on the opposite site of the fence, snarling, baring its fangs just inches away from me peeing and him peeping through the the narrow gap. The fence saved my day. Otherwise a scene of the doggie pulling me, catching me pants down and I screaming at my top of my voice trying to extricate myself from the mess would have been enacted. If someone recorded the act, the video would have got multi million hits on YouTube, making me an overnight superstar celebrity. It could have made headlines in the local Newspaper "Cocktail led to Cock snatched away by a doggie". Glad it wasn't my day being a celebrity. Since then every graduation party I attend or is invited to reminds me of this memorable incident.
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