Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Homeward Bound

Nov 15th 2005

The ultimate late latif that I am, I ran towards the train when there was 5 minutes left for departure and no seats that could be found easily. Jam packed, the train slowly pulled out of ‘Majestic’…to slowly reveal the city that my home is around the outskirts. Filth filled, steeped in poverty, sheltering crime both big and small, guarding secrets and stories, untouched by the wealth that was right above it, shack after shack, drain after drain, settlement after settlement they passed by. Like the filthy rags covering an old jewel, the moving train removed all the things that make Bangalore the city she has become. I was surprised at how quickly my heartbeat dropped to a more normal pace as soon as we were outside the city. It felt like the beginning of life as I have known in India, sanity that I truly appreciate!!

The earth continues to be red and fiery at some places and unforgiving and dry at other places. Puddles were aplenty, lakes were full, all thanks to the unrelenting rains. The coconut plantations looked fuller and healthier. I hear the disease that wiped out plantations together is now almost gone. When I was younger one could not spot an areca tree near Bangalore. This time around, there were a few plantations far away from where they belong. The lush green fronds of the Areca trees tugged so strongly at my heart that the cords to a purse full of tears came undone. After being in the country for almost 2 weeks, I finally felt like I was home. Amazing!! The memories that I least treasured are those that are the strongest!!

I simply had to have a cup of railway ‘Kaaffey’. The child in the seat beside split his hot coffee on his lap, I instinctively tightened the grip on my paper cup. My butter fingers have burnt me quite a few times when I was a kid. The light brown watery concoction they call coffee is actually better than it used to be. The maddur vada that went with it was perfect. Railway snacking at its best!!

The lady opposite me wanted to sit in 2 seats instead of one, until someone bullied her right out of her selfishness, grudgingly though. After muttering under her breath for a few minutes her attention turned towards me. Where am I going? Do I live there? Do I work elsewhere? Why do I have a mangalsutra on my neck, but no bindi? What does my husband do? I looked out the window at the dogs barking and chasing the train. After a barrage of unanswered questions, finally the important one – whose family do I belong to in my hometown? That one I answered quickly and was never bothered again. This was the first of many times in this trip, that I was thankful for belonging to a certain family.

I usually don’t converse with people in trains. I keep to myself and my book, alas I had forgotten mine. The person next to me was only too happy that I was not exactly engaged in anything, so he turned on some movie on his mobile, half sharing it with me, perhaps hoping that I would lean over. Then he made a loud call on his mobile phone and mentioned words like ‘bhai’ and ‘khokha’. Mercifully another girl came and sat between us. At some point we all started conversing. Between the stream of blind and crippled beggars, to those that hand out cards with stories and pictures on them and then come again to collect money, the cups of coffee and packets of kurkure, I learnt that the man was Muslim, married to a Gujrati Jain, living in Mumbai and his family of 4 kids and wife were in another town. The girl next to me apparently has some physical ailment and suffers from the belief that she is not pretty. I told her I thought she was pretty. I don’t know if she heard me loud enough.

Halfway through, we were supposed to change trains. I learnt that some relatives were sitting right behind me and that they knew I was sitting there, but did not to speak with me, perhaps because the train was so crowded. Blessings of blessings they informed me that their son is also in Seattle and they will be visiting him about the same time I leave for home and hearth. Wondering about why they did not speak with me, I continued the journey with them. We made new conversation and caught up after what must have been a decade.

It was already dark when I arrived. My cousins were thrilled to see me, as were the many aunties and uncles. My nieces and nephews were overjoyed, shy and eager all at once. (my oldest niece is just 4 years younger than me!!) A quick cup of coffee and out came the Mehendi cones. Accusations about having ditched everyone for Mehendi and decorated my hands and feet got louder and louder along with demands for patterns on hands. I had gotten my hands and feet Hennaed a day before and was all set for the wedding. The Mehendi process went on for 3 or 4 hours and all my cousins and bhabhis/athiges and nieces and nephews were all satisfied.

When I finally hit the sack that night, it was well past bed time. But all that I could manage were tears…No fun is fun when your soul mate is not with you.

More later….

(The day is the 24th Nov, time is 1.15 am and it continues to rain outside. It might as well be Seattle!! Net connection here is pathetic, so please bear with me regarding replies and mails. Delays are unavoidable!!)

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Bangalore Bits - 1

Bangalore – The city that always was a dream. While growing up, a trip to the city with my dad was a treat that was more desired than a day off from school. An early morning train ride that was made more memorable by the fragrant masala dosas and maddur vadas which were ferried on the shoulders of many familiar vendors some of whom we knew by name and in turn we were known simply as sir or madam or amma. That was Bangalore - with its India Coffee House and British Council Library. What a city it was – Bangalore – the Garden city, wide roads, larger than life trees, great cinema, Kalakshetra and pubs . Bangalore – where life could be perfect…nearly perfect!!

That was then! This is now!

The first word that came to my mind as I went through the immigration when I arrived was ‘chaos’. Utter, absolute chaos. …The beginning of a vacation eh!!

The day after I landed I drove through the roads and have been driving since. One year is not a long time is it?? And yet, it seems like a very long time. The traffic was terrible this time last year. If that was terrible, what is this?? Maha terrible would be an understatement. It’s almost like every person is going around with his/her own personal escort screaming ‘hoshiyaar!! Here comes…so and so’ and blowing and banging loud trumpets and cymbals. Each horn is unique to its owner…but they are all the same – loud and ear shattering. Before I left Seattle a friend who was recently here for the very first time in his life said, ‘I can’t believe how noisy India is!’ and I had laughed. I’ve had a headache for a while now….everyone talks louder, people scream, the TV or music system is always on, people constantly interrupt conversations and I just keep looking at everyone like I have never seen them. I think everyone is going a wee bit deaf in the city.

I watched a couple of plays at the Rangashankara Theatre Festival. Watched ‘A Deep Friend Jam’ and like most of the audience came out wondering if I really am that dumb. The person on my left was yawning for most part of the play and the person on right was fidgeting through out. All of us were sighing deeply for lack of comprehension and checking our watches willing time to move faster. If someone here watched it and understood all the acts, please educate me…..Then there was Vijay Tendulkar’s Ghasiram Kotwal in Kannada. Directed by Jayshree, it was quite enjoyable. The last time I saw Jayashree on stage was when I was 14. The play was Kusumabale and the repertoire was Rangayana of Mysore. How time flies…it’s been almost 15 years!!

Ate Mum’s Biryani, and even better ate Nandhini’s Biryani…(I hope all the bengaloorians are shedding drool and tears…muahhahhahaaaaa!!!!) I have a long list of places to eat at…will be sure to keep the US parians well informed…I am a temporary ISparian, aren’t I??

The last 2 days have been phone call days. I am certain I have forgotten to call some important uncle or some favorite cousin and will have to put out fake fires in a while from now. ‘You never called me!!! What?? You have forgotten us or what??’ oh what joy there is in such nok jhok!!

The funniest call was also the first of what I believe is something I better prepare myself for. This person called and hung up when I answered. Then he called and I could not hear what he said. And I had no clue about who was making blank calls so soon after I landed here. Finally I thought I’d better find out who was trying to reach me (of course, secretly I hoped it was an old charmer) so I called back.

“Hi, I just received a call from your number and I was wondering who this might be.”
“Who did you give the number to”?
Pause “err…excuse me but I just received a call from your number and I was wondering if you just called me on my mobile”
“Yes, I did. But how many people have you given this number to?”
interrupted by MIL, so I say something in Kannada and step out of the house for a bit so I don’t have to pretend to be this nice goody girl who does not yell at strangers on the phone.
“this is so and so, did you just call me? (tone is a bit more business like)
“parvagilla nananna kannada dale maataadsa bahudu” (oh! that’s ok, you can speak with me kannada)
“Ananthu!!!!”
laughter
A few more sentences exchanged and then “Can I call you back?? I am at my in laws??”
A very apologetic Ananthu….
Much later I was driving back home and had a long talk with the (in)famous Ananthu. He was very worried that I might get distracted by his jokes and teasing while driving thru’ the Bangalore maze. I also learnt that Ananthu dear was good to me and that a certain Miss Aditi almost recruited a certain Bratz Pradz to some company on another galaxy. Boy was Ananthu good to me!!

Back home I watched a kannada movie – Aaptamithra which is a rip off from manichitrataazha (is that the right spelling??)….It is the first Kannada movie I have watched in several years. That call was interrupted by another blogger bud. Gosh I love bloggers!!!

Speaking of weddings…there’s one just around the corner. Can’t wait for banana leaf food and fun times with cousins.

Home sweet home!! More later!!