Acharye Thile Boli

 There was this short story in our Class VIII Odia SAHITYA (literature) textbook titled "ACHARYE THILE BOLI" (Because Mr. Acharya was there), written by an eminent Odia writer Sri Raj Kishore Ray who was narrating a true incident. Not sure if kids of the present generation back home have read this story.

Short story short, the writer is traveling on a train in Odisha when a beggar walks into his compartment. Many of his co-passengers rudely refuse to pay him until Sri Acharya Harihar, an Oriya freedom fighter, social reformer, educationist and statesman arrives on the scene. He obliges the beggar with few coins. Those who refused to pay moments earlier, now suddenly developed compassion towards the beggar and opened up their wallets quite generously. But the writer who was silently watching all this did not pay anything but was paying attention to the behavior of the rest.

Acharye asked Sri Ray why he did not pay the beggar like the rest. The writer replied, "ACHARYE THILE BOLI" - Because Mr. Acharya was there. A great story with plenty of connotation and imagery. Whoever we are, we live in a veneer of hypocrisy and tend to portray a public image conducive to our milieu, separate from our own self. Here Acharya's presence provided such an environment, bringing out sudden benevolence in the conduct of folks surrounding him, however temporary it may be. The author of the story Mr. Rajkishore Ray was unperturbed and preferred to stay by himself.

Now living in the United States for more than quarter of a century, I have seen inside Indian grocery stores like Patel Brothers our own DESI brothers and sisters (Desi is a slang used to denote Indians in America) trample trolleys over each other,  jump the line (queue) at the earliest opportunity, flood the floor with vegetables and plastic bags. In Indian restaurants you can see them jump the buffet line, spill things around with impunity. Yet the same folks care not to do the same in a Wal Mart or Kroger, in a McDonald's or Chillis.

We Desis are just two different people - one inside the Patel Brothers and other inside the Publix. I have seen many amongst us, in exclusive Indian gatherings doing all kinds of loitering, including throwing food on the floor, quite aware of the fact that SAMBAR and Butter Chicken Masala gravy can create havoc on the carpet. Occasionally they can be seen throwing crumbled balls made out toilet paper roll strewn all around the restrooms (toilets).

Yet I have observed that in many gatherings our Desi brothers and sisters are unbelievably disciplined and suave in the presence of Americans. A baffled friend of mine once pointed out the same on one such occasion where the local folks were present in an overwhelming majority and asked me how could be our Desi siblings so disciplined ! My impromptu response to him with a smirk - "AMERICANS THILE BOLI (because Americans were there).