Arrival in Chicago - November 2022

 I love Chicago, Illinois, the richest state of America's midwest which has a rich history. It is the state of Abraham Lincoln who saved United States from getting divided after a bloody Civil War from 1861 to 1865. I have been to this city no less than a dozen times and excited to visit it once again.

The holiday season is yet to start but the flight from Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport was full for middle of the week. It was packed like sardines. That's probably why the Airlines was offering $500 flight vouchers to be used for any future flights, if I rebook on another flight leaving next day. I passed this generous offer.

The Delta airliner from Atlanta Airport roared like a gargantuan bird, gently gliding into the sky leaving the Atlanta skyline behind. It shuddered and wobbled a bit trying to beat the haze amidst the gray nimbus cloud brushing against the airliner like white bristles cleaning a vehicle in a car wash. Slowly it ascended into the sky, diving into an enormous darkness of the distance. The fading lights below flickered like stars in some distance galaxy

A blustery windy night welcomed me to the aptly named Windy city of Chicago. Bursts of fresh air swarmed around me, caressing me with its soft, open hands embracing me as I stepped out of the Chicago O'Hare airport. The balmy weather of 66 degrees close to around 10 O'Clock in the night approaching middle of November in Chicago felt really unreal.

Soon I realized that I have become a slave of social media, vindicated by the fact that no sooner the flight landed than I started checking my text messages on phone. When I looked around I discovered that I wasn't alone as almost everyone except an infant sitting on her mother's lap drooped their heads on their phones. Two hours without access to social media is eternity these days.

The full flight makes me think that may be one day, a la town buses in Bhubaneswar, people will be allowed to stand in flights. At the time of landing, take off and turbulence, one can hang on to the plastic covered metal linked chains, hanging like hangman's noose stuck to horizontal metal bars at the top. I am sure folks won't mind, especially in the short duration flights around holiday seasons.

During my REC (Now NIT) Rourkela days I once sat on a stool in an overnight bus service from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar as all the seats were occupied. In the middle of journey, a junk movie named PAAP KA ANT (End of evil) was playing on the hazy TV screen, as the bus topsy-turvied its way forward. To my drowsy eyes the name looked Italian - PAAPA KA ANTA (Dad's Waist).

As I rubbed my eyes trying to figure out the movie, the driver suddenly slammed the brakes. Every one surged forward in sequence, same way a bunch of bricks standing in a line would fall upon one another, if the chain reaction is triggered by kicking the brick at one end.

Thankfully I was in the middle. The guy on the stool in front who was gaping at the screen with his mouth wide open savoring a scene from the cinema was not so lucky. He bore the brunt of  Newton's Law of Motion (a body continues to be in rest or motion unless an external force is applied) as he was flung foward, his phalanx of front teeth hitting the thick metallic rod in front of him. Ouch, it must have hurt him bad.

We Odias are genuinely peace loving Gandhians with a high sense of tolerance and a higher forgiving mindset. Rather than being annoyed, he smiled back, exposing his swollen lips and bloody teeth, continuing watching the movie. It may so happen in our lifetime stools will be placed in the middle for a Boing 757 to accomodate the overbooked passengers. More later...

 

Living in a fake vainglorious world

 A whole bunch of BJP leaders, at least one Chief Minister, a Governor, multiple Ministers of state and center from the party talk about our glorious past in the year 3548 BC when we used to fly Airplanes, used TV and internet - not to mention the extensive usage of plastic surgery and nuclear missiles.

India was the El Dorado of past. It was not only rich, it has a rich ancient history, its glorious culture and traditions can be the traced to thousands of years. I am aware and immensely proud of our magnificent temple architectures, medios "Charak and Shushruta" and India's contributions towards numeral zero. But what I am not proud is GULLIS killed (telling lies) in the name of our great history for scoring cheap political goals.

You may think our politicians don't know what they are saying. Wrong. They know what they're saying. After all, they're politician who are playing to the gallery of gullible people using nationalism as their trump card - scientific temper being damned. Every thing is fair in love, war and now days as vindicated by recent incidents - Politics.

When I was a child our grandmother used to tell us stories to put her recalcitrant grandchildren to sleep. She used to warn us - If you don't sleep soon I will take you to the witches who hang late night owl kids like you upside down from a Banyan tree and slowly roast them using the flame from a pyre barely inches below the body. These unique witches can be identified by looking at their feet which have their toes pointing backwards. 

The oil which drips out of the victims body from this process of slow combustion similar to chickens getting barbecued on a summer grill were carefully collected in bottles. They were later sold to the GORA rulers (the British) who used it to join the cut off limbs of their soldiers injured in the war using these drips.

She could be right, stem cell existed not long ago. The witches simply kept the secret to themselves. They were too modest to patent their product and get Nobel Prize for Medicine. Or may be they didn't want their feet to be seen in public during their trip to Stockholm to collect the coveted award.

Reminds me of a neighbor who lived in our Colony (As Residential neighborhood is called a colony back home in Bhubaneswar) living in his fantasy filled vainglorious past. He use to boast - 40 years back I was a KUSTI (wrestling) expert who could wrestle down 3 people at a time. His fragile figure belied that. He also bragged - years ago, Biju Patnaik used to take advice from me on politcal matters. 

Once he went further - As a child Janaki Patnaik used to kiss and fondle me (he maint that JB, an ex CM of Odisha was affectionate toward to him) inviting muffled chuckles from his audience. I tried to change the topic to save him from further embarrassmen. He retorted back, "ARRE TU KANA JANICHU, JANAKI AU MORE AJA NAATI SAMPARKA (Hey, what you know ? Janaki had a maternal grand fatherly instict for me). 

I used to tell myself - "BICHARA BUDHA GULLI MARUCHI" (Poor Old man is killing Gullies, or uttering lies). As he was not doing so well in his profession as a lawyer, he used to fantasize about a vain (glorious) past and cherish it. I accepted it, but unlike others who pooh poohed him "KAHI MAUSA GULLI MARUCHA" (Uncle, why are you killing Gullis or uttering lies), I patiently to his fables and let him have his few minutes of fame. Not that I believed an iota of what he said, yet tried to be polite giving a patient hearing, letting him live in the castle in the air he built for himself.  

Not many know the famous Scientist Einstein was Aintha Sahoo from the Aitalang village, not far from Bhubaneswar. After migrating to Germany he converted into Judaism and became Ein-Stein. Hope this qualifies me to get a BJP ticket from Bhubaneswar - Ekamra constituency, which includes the birthplace of Aintha Sahoo.

20 years with TSYS

When I arrived in America on a cool, late Spring day of 1996 I wasn't in best of shape and spirit, going through a bad phase in life. As goes the popular Bhojpuri saying - "ZINDAGI JHOOND BAA (Life is all messed up), my life was a mess. My ties to a girl just broke up a month before marriage. I was having a horrible time with my boss at work. Living in Calcutta in the mid 1990s I was looking for an escape route, to travel somewhere far from the madding crowd as my surrounding milieu seemed to be mocking at me. I was insecure, unsure of myself and at my vulnerable best.

Still I had no immediate plans to come to the United States. Being the only son of my parents I was a pampered kid. Living in Calcutta was just an overnight train journey away from Bhubaneswar which I visited every other weekend to eat my favorite fish curry and Mansa Jhola (goat meat curry) cooked by my mom. Like many things in my life, I hadn't planned coming to America at that juncture. It just happened to happen all too quickly.

A friend of mine in the US took my resume and circulated around body shoppers, a term used for the placement agencies who hired folks from India on H1B Visa. From bolt from the blue came a decent offer from a Pittsburgh based Company called Mastech Incorporated (now iGate). So I landed here in the United States and been here ever since.

It was the beginning of a long journey. Four years later I got my US Green Card. A year later on a Fall afternoon my wife and I arrived in Columbus, Georgia on a rainy day to start my new job at the Total systems Inc. which at that time was the 5th best company in America to work for (no. 1 in the year 1999). My first day at work was on October 28, 2022 - exactly 20 years ago.

No sooner I entered into our new apartment, a teenage girl came from nowhere and rear ended my vehicle. The damage to the car was minimal, but perhaps as I was Bonded to the place I was shaken, not stirred. There is a DHAGA (proverb) in Odia - "GHARE PASU PASU MUNDA RE CHALA BAJILA" (No sooner I entered my home, my head hit the roof). I thought this freak accident was a bad Omen, harbinger of worst things to come.

It didn't turn exactly that way. Many good things happened in due course of time, though a few stood out. Our son arrived in our life in the year 2005. A year later I acquired US Citizenship as the same year saw the arrival Facebook as a social media platform. It taught me writing when I joined Facebook in 2009 and haven't stopped ever since. Please excuse me for some self bragging here -currently with nearly 5,000 on my friend list and almost an equal number of followers I have come a long way.

But the most important thing happened to me was my tryst with Total Systems Inc. For all these years I have seen many ups and downs in life and company as a lot of water has flown under the bridge over river Chattahoochee. But what hasn't changed is my unwavering commitment and bondage to the company all these years as I feel proud to be associated with it 20 years down the road.

Slangs of Bhubaneswar

 Akin to most Americans who have a middle name, majority of those back home in Odisha, my home state back home, from my generation carry a nick name. The first name is also called good name. It is not so uncommon to be asked in India - "What's your good name".

While the first name is used in educational institutes and paperworks, the nicknames given by parents are the ones preferably used by friends and relatives. A common way of addressing a person in the twin city of Cuttack - Bhubaneswar is by using the unique combo of nickname and last (sur) name. For example Bunu Panda, Muna Sahoo, Lulu Patnaik and so on. Don't know why the nickname overrides the first name, with the last name remaining constant.

Nicknames are often juxtaposed with the following terms to form an alias, giving an peculiar identity to that individual.  For example, MOTA or MOTU (fatty), PETA (potbellied), POTALA (rotund), GEDA or BANGURU (shorty), LAMBU or DENGU (tall), TERA (squint), MIAN or PATHANA for Muslims. For example, Budu PETA, GEDA Gopala, Haq MIAN and so on. 

Sometimes certain activities or actions get stuck to names as tattoos get stuck to human body for whole life, refusing to go away. Once in our school one guy farted loudly, followed by bursts of laughter as Chinese crackers on a Diwali night. He was nicknamed as "So and So the Farter". After leaving school he entered the college and thought that the episode will be forgotton. Or so he thought. He asked another guy, a junior from his school asking him if his name "So and So" rings a bell. His  junior gave an impromptu answer - "Oh, So and so the farter". It further his disappointed senior who remorsefully walked away.

Another common and reverent form of addressing is the last name followed by "Babu". In Odisha I have been addressed as Dash Babu on numerous occasions, not yet sure why I am not addressed as Sambeet Babu ! Being referenced as a "Babu" invariably brings an image of a Head Clerk wearing thick framed glass in me, but I never take any offence. 

In REC (now NIT) our teachers with a doctorate degree preferred to be addressed with the prefix Dr. So and So. If someone inadvertently addressed a faculty constipated with tons of ego by his Doctorate degree as a "Mr" instead of "Dr", he was inviting trouble. That was the time I was enlightened that there are two kinds of doctors who live in this world, one PADHAIWALA (teaching) type doctors and the other DAWAIWALA, the medicine kind who treat diseases.

Here you go with a few popular slangs of our time, mostly from the twin city of Bhubaneswar - Cuttack.

MANDU - Nubile Girls

LUNGUDA - A habitual girl chaser

PENA - Nincompoop.

GHODI - Literally meaning mare but denotes a Tom Boyish girl lacking feminine qualities. A tall, lanky girl those days, however pretty she might be would be written off a DENGI GHODI (Tall Mare) versus a plump, fair, short, stocky girl adored as a DAUL DOWL (Chubby) beauty.

LULLA, CHOCHALA - Thoroughy useless, Good for nothing guy.

DHAEEN or DHAIYAAN - Literally means a person with respiratory ailments gasping for breath. As a slang it means a worthless guy, an abject failure in life.

MUNDA - A naive, slow witted person who can be dangerously moronic.

Those days the BADAGADIYAs, the folks living in a village called BADAGADA in the outskirts of the city perfectly fitted the bill as MUNDAs - naive, slow witted folks who can be dangerously stupid. Their heads were rumored to be stuffed with cow dung.

There used to be a popular anecdote about the residents of Badagada. One day the head of the village who was getting persistent headache visited a doctor. He came back triumphantly announcing "Doctor checked my head and found nothing in it" which was followed by cheers from his fellow villagers. Though we were in awe of their muscle power, it did not deterred us from poking fun at the Baragadiyas.

A fly-in encounter

 The other day I was buying lunch from a drive through window at a local restaurant when a fly from nowhere suddenly entered into my car. I frantically tried to shoo it away, but the fly refused to fly away. I kept the windows of my car open for a while to let the barging air suck the fly out. But the tiny insect managed to swing inside the car, toing and froing from one corner to another like a pendulum, mocking at my predicament.

The fly reminded me of that drunken uncle in a house party who comes uninvited and refuses to leave. I have some interesting anecdotes from my childhood days to share. The father of my friend happened to be a reputed Contractor in Odisha who got some lucrative government contracts. During the marriage ceremony of my friend's sister, I noticed a middle aged man in an inebriated state passing lewd, uncomfortable sounding double entendres at girls old enough to be his daughter. The guests maintained a safe distance from this obnoxious person for his mouth smelled a unique blend of smoking tobacco, Pyorrhea and Whisky. 

Couple of years later I bumped into the same man again, this time during the marriage reception ceremony of the same friend's brother. Our drunken guy from the previous marriage reception was in a bachhanalian mood was giving lascivious looks at young girls, ogling them with his shrunken red eyes and passing disparaging remarks, his countenance reeking of lecherous intent. The history was just repeating itself.

Feeling irritated and now a bit curious I asked my friend - "Who is the person ? Why Mausa (Uncle) keeps on inviting such folks to your family gatherings ?" My friend got a bit defensive and replied hesitantly - "After all he is a family friend and very close to my dad." Later on I discovered that this abominable person was an Engineer who passed the bills submitted by contractors and hence was deemed tolerable and given a free pass.

The fly was still humming inside my car when I remembered this incident. During my childhood days this man from our village used to visit our home quite often. My parents were gracious hosts. His peculiarity was that he would always arrive close to lunch or dinner time. One day just out of curiosity I asked my father - "Why this gentleman turns up exactly close to the time when we eat our meal ?" My father replied back - "Once upon a time this man not only used to be rich, he was a well known spendthrift. Back in those days he would never blink an eye or think twice while lavishly entertaining me out of utmost regard for educated folks. We shouldn't forget his generosity during his torrid time. Never underestimate the power of a hungry man's blessings".

Both incidents could be construed as two similar incidents separated by a common sentiment in different times. In both cases two different men were considered as fly on the ointment in my eyes in two separate situations, the licentious Engineer who had a choice and the poor man from village who didn't have much of a choice. What I remembered on a fly flooded my memory while I drove back and it ebbed as I reached home. 

Suddenly the fly in mymy car swung by and sat on my lap. My reflex action tried to swat it off while I opened my car door. The fly flew away towards the bright and blue sunny sky hovering on the misty grass on my front yard and soon melted away to its freedom. My fly-in encounter left me alone, still slave of the memories from the past. 

Back to work at office post pandemic

 Went back to work at my office location after 2 years and 7 months. The attendance in the office was frugal. There were not many people around as some of them are working remotely following the new "2 days at office - 3 days from home" schedule. I have now started to work Mondays and Tuesdays at office and rest three days, Wednesday to Friday from home.

Last time I worked at office was on March 17, 2020 when Donald Trump was the President of the United States and Joe Biden was struggling in the Democratic Primaries. A lot of water has flown in the river Chattahoochee since then when I started working from home due to the Covid pandemic until today.

It was mixed feelings going back to work after such a long time. I was excited as I missed the office and my coworkers for such a long time. Missed the fun, chat, eating lunch at the campus cafeteria and the office gossips. I had my share of fun and chat with my team mates as and when I encountered them. 

During the lunch time I decided to take a walk to the cafeteria. My ever alert ears receptive to spice, juicy stories overheard two ladies walking ahead of me. They were gossiping, doing character assassination of their Mother-in-laws. I heard one of them saying - "My Mother-in-law would listen to everyone but me". The other one nodded - "mine is no better".

There was hardly anyone around. It seemed I was walking through some ghost town as I encoured only a couple of souls on the entire stretch of little less than a furlong from the elevator to the cafeteria. It was peak lunch hour, so I expected some line and the place streaming with people. 

But I was so wrong. The cafeteria had no more than half a dozen people looking around as they hadn't much of a choice. There was no soup, the popular salad bar was missing. Only the grill section was open with only a handful items on menu. The usually busy lady at the cash counter was yawning waiting patiently for the next customer. It felt like something was missing in the millieu, like an orange whose juice has been sucked out.

A few team members complimented me after a long time no see for shedding a few pounds and my salt and pepper hair which has started growing like weeds on an uncared lawn. It was a long day being Monday today, but nevertheless felt great to get back to work after a long hiatus. 

The saga of Archana Nag

 Her name is Archana Nag. A small town girl from Bolangir she came to Bhubaneswar, the city of opportunities in Odisha to study law and dream big. Not sure how far she went on her academic pursuit, she was posing as a lawyer and as an active member of a leading political party. In this process she got married and had a child.

Then she hit the jackpot and stuck gold earning the tag of honey bee with her horny escapades. Soon she figured out the ugly underbelly of the city. As reported by media luring the high and mighty of Bhubaneswar which includes at least three politicians and a leading Odia movie producer, policemen, she had sex with them in her house while recording the steamy scenes. She then used those raunchy videos to her advantage by blackmailing her victims and extorting exorbitant amounts.

She apparently succeeded in her profession as the result spoke for itself and living quite well for herself. Soon she started living a lavish lifestyle in the capital city, owning an expensive bunglow, a fleet of fancy cars. As pets she not only had her henpecked husband and suiters, she owned exotic animals - a white horse and a brood of foreign breed dogs. Not to mention she was seen hobnobbing with the high and mighty of Bhubaneswar.

But soon fate caught up with her and her luck ran out. One of her alleged victims, a movie producer complained to the police that she was extorting 3 crore (Rs.30 million) from her, leading to her arrest. Stay tuned for more spicy news as skeletons are bound to come stumbling out of her cupboard as the hounding media has already smelled blood.

Bhubaneswar is no more the sleepy township of a couple of lakh (200,000) folks of mostly salaried, educated and intellectual class I grew up with. It has now turned into a melting pot, a city of immigrants from all over Odisha. The city has grown beyond its means, now harbors an estimated number of 1.2 million people. This unplanned growth was accompanied by unpleasant rise in people living in squalors strewn all over the city, rampant rise in crime, drug and prostitution. No wonder, such juicy news keeps coming out once in a while. May Lord Jagannath bless my home city back home.