This evening I was at a graduation party. The crowd consisted mostly of Gujaratis and we were the only Odias present at the occasion. My son got busy with his friends and my wife found her companions. I was quietly sipping a large Mango Mohito cocktail at a corner by myself as company.
Sensing my loneliness a guy approached me, sitting next to me. After our exchange of introductions Gujarati man asked me which part of India I am from. I said - "I am an Odia from Odisha". He appeared confused. I continued - "Have you heard of Jagannath temple in Puri. I am originally from that place", hoping it could ring a bell.
"Oh, Jagannath Jee Dham ?" - He explained and went on "We have His Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad every year." "Of course, you do. But Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra is very special. About a million congregate on the world famous occasion. Puri is in Odisha." was my response. He said - "I thought Puri is located in Bengal".
The ignorance about Odisha and Odias isn't new to me. In one of my trips to India inside my Paris to Delhi flight I was sitted next to a Punjabi lady who was traveling with her little child. During our tete-a-tete she mentioned that she was from Boston and glad that her long journey ends at Delhi. I said - "I am not so fortunate. It will be at least a 7 hour arduous wait in the middle of night at the Delhi Airport before I catch the morning flight to Bhubaneswar". Now I could see surprise in her eyes - "Bhubaneswar ? Where is it ?" I replied - "It's the capital of the state of Odisha". "I am sorry, I have no idea where is Odisha", she said. "Well, do you know Jagannath Puri ? " I mentioned this thinking the better known Lord Jagannath temple of Puri will at least ring a bell.
The Punjabi lady's eyes sparkled a bit as she suddenly came with an answer - "I have a relative Jagannath Puri who lives in Greater Kailash, Delhi". I got my answer.
It was getting late in the evening at the party as constant drizzle forces us to get inside the house. I had already imbibed couple of large glasses of Mango flavored Mohito cocktails. My bladder was full. I went inside looking for restroom and gladly found it. It took me back on a time machine when years ago I wasn't so lucky in one such party where my bladder was about to overflow and I desperately needed to open my valve. The sole unisex rest room was occupied, testing my patience.
It was already dark. Looking around and making sure no one was noticing, I ventured to a corner of the fence to relieve myself. Whistling a song, letting out a jet stream and as a fitting finale I was about to shrug the residue off off - a rare pleasure to urinate under "MUKTA AKASHA" (open sky) in America. I was glad thinking that no one was noticing my sneaky escapade.
So I thought ! All of a sudden I heard a growing sound of a big, burly canine across neighbor's fence. It was followed by loud barking, only the Deewar (wall) of the fence separating us. Not impressed with me encroaching its neighborhood territory, the doggie was standing in two legs on the opposite site of the fence, snarling, baring its fangs just inches away from me peeing and him peeing through the the narrow gap. The fence saved my day. Otherwise a scene of the doggie pulling me, catching me pants down and I screaming at my top of my voice trying to extricate myself from the mess would have been enacted. If someone recorded the act, the video would have got multi million hits on the YouTube, making me an overnight celebrity. It could have made headlines in the local Newspaper "Cocktail led to Cock snatched away by a dog". I wasn't so lucky.
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