Saturday, December 5, 2015

Delhi Diary I - India trip 2015

Good Morning India. Felt like uttering it loudly, looking down from the balcony of my friend's place, a la, Eddie Murphy in his movie COMING TO AMERICA. Coming from America, I wished to replicate the same. In that scene from the movie, the actor's wish at top of his voice, "Good Morning my neighbors", is returned by an equally prompt response " Hey, F...you". Eddie Murphy returns with a smile "F...you too".

If I say "Good Morning Doston (friends)", I might get "Shut up Bai**od". I can retort back, " S(h)ame to you Bai**od". It would have been a grand Welcome to Delhi, Punjabi style, where a sentence can start with Bai**od, interspersed with a few liberal dosages of Bai**od and ends with Bai**od. It's how the Dillwalle (Heartful) Dilliwalle (Delhites) welcome each other.

Bai**od" is not such a bad word in Delhi and Punjab  (in the Pakistani part of Punjab too). Apart from the usual meaning, it can stands for multiple euphemism, to describe a scene or situation. Bai**od KYA THAND HAI YAAR (my friend, it's so cold), Bai**od MEIN GIR JAUNGA Bai**od (I will fall down, spoken after sighting a pretty girl), Bai**od KYA MATCH THA (what a match it was). Friends hug each other, A GALE LAG JA OI Bai**od (get a hug, my friend). Same way "O' Calcutta" symbolizes Kolkata, "Jai Jagannath" denotes Odisha  "Oi Bai**od" defines Delhi.

I am flattered by the size of the food platters if front of me, matching the huge hearts of hospitality of my friends. While w(o)inking at them, my big selfish piggy heart says to devour them, but my mind cautions to go slow. Need to be careful about getting Delhi Belly, when your body clock says it's breakfast time, while you are served a sumptuous dinner.

At evening went on a stroll at the DLF Emporio Mall with my friends from REC, Chitta Sahoo and Alok Mohanty. Did some window shopping, peeked at a LEHNGA (women's wardrobe) inside the famous Tarun Tahliani fashion store, which had a cool price tag of Rs.2 lakh (200,000). Less than a 100 feet away from the mall, was standing a lanky beggar in loin cloth, shivering in nascent Delhi cold. Welcome to India, where contrasts of stinking affluence and poverty coexist.

Grabbed a Thumbs Up (in India I prefer it to Coke or Pepsi) to watch the hockey Semi final match between India and  Belgium, on a large screen in front of the mall. Weather was slightly chill, crispy, soothing for outdoors, except the ever pervading hazy smog of Delhi. Enjoyed every bit of it, as I don't get chance to see hockey so often. (In USA, hockey by default is played on ice). Sadly, but not unexpectedly, India lost the match. Hockey has revolutionized into a fsster game and synthetic turf doesn't favor the dribbling style of subcontinental hockey. The game has now tilted towards the Europeans. A lesson here - In the changing world of competitive sports or profession, the key world is Adapt or perish.

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