On the day I moved in, I took a walk around the neighbourhood. I was looking for a place to "recharge" my SIM card, put more money into the account. I was looking for the "Idea" signs (since mine is an Idea card). I walked into this store that seemed like it would work. It was being manned by girl who couldn't be more than 12 years old! She was confidently speaking Hindi and taking money from customers and dialing some magic numbers and recharging cards for them.
"Do you do recharges here?"
"Yes, how much do you want to put on your account?"
"Two hundred rupees."
"There's a top up at Rs. 234"
"Oh uh, OK" (Whatever that is)
She asked for my number and before I could take out the cash, the recharge was done. She counted out the change from my 300, "One, six, sixteen, sixty-six, OK?" I could barely hide my smile as this kid played grown up.
Later as I was walking along, I heard a shout of "Bhaiyya, ball!" from above. As I looked up I saw tiny heads over a wall. The kids had been playing cricket on the roof and hit the ball over the wall. The "Bhaiyya" (brother) in question was a stranger who stopped and picked up the ball and threw it at the roof. Except, he hit a few electric/telephone wires and the ball ricocheted into my hand. A flood of memories came back to me, memories from when I was younger and was asked to throw the ball up a few floors and failing to either make the height, or missing the floor. Since you are usually right below the building, you have a very narrow vertical angle to work with and that adds to the difficulty. Do I dare make the throw and risk failure and ridicule, or do I just hand the ball off to the "Bhaiyya" from earlier and let him try again? I took a deep breath and made the throw. It cleared the roof and I heard the joyous, "Yay!!" from the kids, I couldn't stop smiling for the second time that evening.
I stopped at a medical store to pick up some random medicines. The supplies were worth Rs. 19 and I gave the kid in the store a Rs. 20 note. He spent a minute looking through the cash register and then when I looked back at him, he had a piece of candy in his hand. With the inflation and everything, not only can't you get much (anything?) for a rupee, you can't even seem to find the rupee coins. So these store just give out pieces of candy instead of the rupee. It's very amusing that these guys presume you want a goods instead of cash. I wonder what would happen if I took back five of these pieces of candy to the store and demanded something worth five rupees?
"Do you do recharges here?"
"Yes, how much do you want to put on your account?"
"Two hundred rupees."
"There's a top up at Rs. 234"
"Oh uh, OK" (Whatever that is)
She asked for my number and before I could take out the cash, the recharge was done. She counted out the change from my 300, "One, six, sixteen, sixty-six, OK?" I could barely hide my smile as this kid played grown up.
Later as I was walking along, I heard a shout of "Bhaiyya, ball!" from above. As I looked up I saw tiny heads over a wall. The kids had been playing cricket on the roof and hit the ball over the wall. The "Bhaiyya" (brother) in question was a stranger who stopped and picked up the ball and threw it at the roof. Except, he hit a few electric/telephone wires and the ball ricocheted into my hand. A flood of memories came back to me, memories from when I was younger and was asked to throw the ball up a few floors and failing to either make the height, or missing the floor. Since you are usually right below the building, you have a very narrow vertical angle to work with and that adds to the difficulty. Do I dare make the throw and risk failure and ridicule, or do I just hand the ball off to the "Bhaiyya" from earlier and let him try again? I took a deep breath and made the throw. It cleared the roof and I heard the joyous, "Yay!!" from the kids, I couldn't stop smiling for the second time that evening.
I stopped at a medical store to pick up some random medicines. The supplies were worth Rs. 19 and I gave the kid in the store a Rs. 20 note. He spent a minute looking through the cash register and then when I looked back at him, he had a piece of candy in his hand. With the inflation and everything, not only can't you get much (anything?) for a rupee, you can't even seem to find the rupee coins. So these store just give out pieces of candy instead of the rupee. It's very amusing that these guys presume you want a goods instead of cash. I wonder what would happen if I took back five of these pieces of candy to the store and demanded something worth five rupees?
3 comments:
Nice! Your narration skills are very good. As I was reading on the act of throwing the ball up, I was afraid you were going to end up hitting a window! Hopefully you can start playing cricket soon too.
Now I miss India!! Reading your blogs bringing back memories. When you've these conversations with the vendors, is it in English or Hindi or Marati? I'll be shocked if you say Hindi but I guess that is the only option. Hopefully not Marati. Do you ever run into people who don't know Hindi but only Marati?
Well I am speaking Hindi and as hard as it might be to believe, I am quite good at it! I lived in Hyderabad all my life, so it's not a stretch.
The cell recharge store actually had an older lady sitting next to the girl who couldn't speak any Hindi. I tried to talk to her at first but she soon realized the problem and referred me to the little girl.
I am seriously considering getting a "Marathi in 30 days", let's see.
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