On our drive back home from Oklahoma, we made a stop inside Arkansas at a Taco Bell (A Mexican Fast Food Chain) for lunch. It turned out, my experience could to be a Taco Hell of an experience for many, especially for the staunch Hindus.
No sooner I took a bite of my order of Chicken Taco, than I could taste and smell something different. It had brownish beef inside. The manager profusely apologized and promptly replaced the mistaken order with my original order of Chicken Tacos. An apparent a case of miscommunication, lost in translation and accent, as in remote places in America those not familiar with Indian accent can have hard time understanding them.
The default meat in America is Beef, unless otherwise specically mentioned in the order. A good example is the Cheeseburger. Though sounds vegetarian, the burger is melted Cheese covered default meat is beef. Seems for me it's time to take a GANGA JAL (water from River Ganga which washes off the sins committed) shower and shoulder a new PAITA (sacred thread worn across shoulder by Brahmins).
A la Narsena Naidoo in JATIRA DHAKKA (The jolt from Caste) from our middle school Odia Literature textbook, I lost my caste. Before being ostracized, I need to follow the purification mentioned prescribed in that epic short story - JA PURI JA. GOBAR PANI PEE, TEBE JAI JATI PHERI PAIBU - Go to Puri (sacred temple city of Hindus). Drink Cow dung laced water, then only you can get your caste back.
Next day was Monday, a vegetarian day for me. I stopped by a BURGER KING and grabbed a Veggie Burger. Ordering vegetarian food in Fast food chains in America is akin to eating Potato from Goat meat curry and pretending to be a vegetarian (in strict Indian sense). My veggie burger could very well been grilled next to a beef or a chicken patty, on the same pan, using the same spatula. Yey one has to be prudent to be Roman in Rome - it's virtually impossible to be a strictly vegetarian when you are outside, unless you just stick to fruits and salads (salad dressings can contain egg).
There's a phrase in Odia often used in my village - GHARA MUHA BALADA, which means "Homebound Bullock". The oxen dragging the Bullock cart rush at great speed on their return journey exited at the prospect of getting back home, in anticipation of their long, tiring ordeal getting over soon. We felt the same way.
There's a phrase in Odia often used in my village - GHARA MUHA BALADA, which means "Homebound Bullock". The oxen dragging the Bullock cart rush at great speed on their return journey exited at the prospect of getting back home, in anticipation of their long, tiring ordeal getting over soon. We felt the same way.
One other thing I noticed in my 3,000 miles long journey, though foundation of American infrastructure is pretty strong, it's crumbling and needs to be fixed ASAP (As soon as possible). From no. 1 in the world it has come down to no. 26 in infrastructure - per NPR Radio.
In this context, President Trump's Infrastructure bill of $2 trillion with the bipartisan support from Democrats and Republicans is a welcome step. But that's the good news. Bad news is, they're still bickering over how to pay for it. Republicans want substantial private funding whereas Democrats want the bill to be footed by the government. Hope they unite togother for the sake of United States of America.
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