During my initial days in Odisha, the incessant honking and zigzag traffic felt little irritating and occasionally annoying. But it is nothing compared to the "Auto-cracy" I see in Bhubaneswar. The 3 -wheeler vehicles called "Auto", a short form for Autorickshaw try to outsmart and outrun each other in the rat race of catching the next BHADAA, the Odia term meaning rental passengers, akin to the rat race of news channels for higher ratings (TRP).
As there were hardly any Zebra crossing here, it took me a good 5 minutes exhibiting my ass swinging skills to cross a 20 feet wide road. Road crossing is an art in Odisha and one needs to be a trapeze artist to cross roads at most crossroads of Bhubaneswar. You not only have to deal with the incoming traffic, you have to deal with stray dogs, cows and bulls competing for their space on the road. It took above and beyond my normal hip swaying skills to cross the road which would have made any danseuse proud.
After a bout of morning showers due to a tropical storm, I drove to the nearby Samantaraipur Chhak to get some ALU CHOP (potato cutlet) - one of my favorite snacks. Alu Chop tastes better in Odisha as French fries taste better in America. The area is full of street vendors on both side of the road selling vegetables. The place reminded me of an incident from one of my trips to India a few summers ago. Visits to India is always memorable. Incredible India, full of sights and sounds with wonderful imagery you will find nowhere.
One fine morning I came to this vegetable market to do some shopping and catch a glimpse of the milieu. No sooner I finished my purchase from a vendor than I heard someone shouting MAHADEB MUNDIA (Salute, O Lord Shiva. The venerable Bull is the ride of our Hindu God Lord Siva). I turned my head to notice a huge Bull sniffing vegetables hardly couple of feet from me. The mountain sized bovine acknowledged my neighbor's greetings by nodding its head while happily munching the veggies fed to him.
A man suddenly arrives at the scene clad in LUNGI (A loincloth wrapped around the waist), scratching his private parts in public (blame the hot and humid weather for that) and asked the lady vendor "ALO BAIGANA KETE NEKHA meaning "Hey, how much is the Brinjal ( Eggplant ) ?" Then from nowhere comes another woman in rags shouting explicit at someone who refused to part her with vegetables.
She started cursing the vendor's whole family to die from BAADI (cholera, a killer disease from yesteryears, now defunct). She could have cursed her to die from Covid which was the scourge here. One has a better chance to perish these days than Cholera. She also went on accusing the lady vendor of soliciting illicit relationship with her mothers and sisters. I couldn't understand why she didn't direct her anger towards her father and brother rather than mother and sister. Apparently we are still a male dominated society.
After being content from covering all the 14 generations with all her curses she finally relented. The lady selling the vegetables ignored her and went on shouting BAIGANA BAIGANA (eggplant eggplant). I asked the lady vendor the reason behind the other woman's sudden outburst. Before she could answer my query a man in loin cloth and unkempt hair told me "She is a mad woman. Nobody takes her seriously".
As he walked away the vegetable vendor started giggling. I asked her what's so funny ? She said "Babu (Sir ), this man just told you that the abusive woman is PAGELI ( she-mad), right ? " "Yes, I think I heard him loud and clear", I replied. She continued giggling "Hee hee. He is no different. He is a PAGALA (he-mad) too."
Now trying to make sense of the madness surrounding me I swept off the beads of sweat from my forehead as the tropical sun was peaking right over my head. It was time to rush back home, far from the madding crowd. More later...
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