India trip 2018 - Day XII

More than half way through my India I have realized that time flies faster than the speed of light. A vacation week passes much faster than a work week, vindicating "The Theory of Relativity". Explaining his famous theory Einstein said "time flies slowly when you listen to a boring lecture, but it flies fast when you talk to a pretty girl". He was so correct.

Whenever and wherever I get a chance, I speak to every person from all echelons of the society I come across. While riding a car - OLA, UBER or otherwise I invariably take the passenger seat on the front so that I can talk to the driver. The common man doesn't care about GDP, Demonetization, GST or all kinds of sundry statistics. He cares more about price of gas, essential commodities and corruption in public. The first two has gone up and corruption has hardly come down. I have asked the common man on the street - sweepers, shopkeeper, intellectuals, educated ones, friends, villagers one common question looking into their eyes, "Are you better off now than you were 4 and half years ago?" The common answer from the common man so far is a resounding NO.

This evening I was standing in front of a BINA PIAJA RASUNA (Without Onion and Garlic) Vegetarian Roll Stall to buy for my parents who are vegetarians on Saturdays. A guy in a cheap Safari suit with dusty Chappal (sandals) suddenly barged in, ARRE MATE SUPOO JALDI DE (Give me some soup) - his burp smelled a mix of pyorrhea and cheap whisky. 

Undeterred, the stall guy rolled his dough, sprinkled some oil over it and flipped it. The impatient customer again yelled - HE SUPOO DE, NAHELE MUNCIPALTY KU KAHI TO DOKAN BAND KARIDEBI (Hey give me soup, otherwise I will tell the municipality to shut down your stall). The stall owner looked unperturbed, continued making rolls without batting an eyelid. Did not seem he took the threat seriously.

Today's weather was a trifle cooler - it felt a lot less humid. The smell of Puja was in the air as the retreating cyclone Titli sucked moisture bringing in the Durga Puja flavor. Durga Puja is arguably the most festive occasion in Odisha which runs into several days. I visited UTKALIKA , a store selling crafts and artifacts of Odisha located in the Market Building - Bhubaneswar's equivalence of Time Square. It was throbbing with people doing their last minute Puja marketing (local lingo for shopping). 

I walked a narrow lane connecting the main road from Rajmahal to Market Building. It was packed like sardines. A melee in front of a small store drew my attention. A woman was shouting on top of her voice - E LOKATA MO THU DASA LAKHYA NEI FEREINI. MU TA BEPARA BAND KARIDEBI (The man has taken a million rupees from me and hasn't returned back. I vow to close down his business). A crowd of curious unlookers was starting to build up, enjoying the drama and further constricting the narrow path. I snaked my way through them to emerge on the Main street of Market Building, gasping for fresh air.

Already exhausted with couple of threats to close down businesses, I stood for a while trying to figure out the shortest path algorithm to reach UTKALIKA with my hand firmly tucked inside my pocket holding on to the wallet - for I was fore warned earlier of pickpockets prying on unsuspecting Puja shoppers. I heard a girl on phone speaking in a soft but audible voice - "TU JANICHU NA, MO BOYFRIEND TA EBE BEWAFA HEI JAICHI (You know, my boyfriend has turned untrustworthy of late)". Good luck young lady on your "Bewafa Boyfriend" and thanks for enriching the Odia language by adding some news words to it. More later....