Gambling and, more importantly, winning while gambling, is a huge rush for me. I used to play poker and made myself stop because I couldn't trust myself to not keep buying in :) Once I was playing pool with a friend and was losing with close margins. Then he suggested we "make it interesting" and convinced me to wager on the next round and immediately I started winning.
Of course, I love betting on random trivial things and it's always sweet when I win. After coming here, here's a summary of the wagers I've made and their results -
1. Wagered that the Jet Li movie that had him in a dog collar was not called "Danny the dog" but was called "Unleashed" instead. Turned out it was called "Danny the dog" outside the US. I could have claimed that I wasn't wrong on this one but I still paid up. The bet was a pizza. I think I wrote about this in the blog earlier.
2. This guy at work was working hard on his abs, his aim was/is to get a six-pack. I wagered that he wouldn't even be able to get a "flat stomach" by Diwali and won a dinner at Barbeque Nation.
3. I'm training another guy on some stuff and I gave him "homework" over a weekend which he promised he would complete. So I asked him to bring either the homework or a Coke to work - he did.
4. There's a girl at work who's a graduate of some culinary institute and she was cooking some chicken at a friend's house. She said that marinating was primarily a process to tenderize the meat and I said that it was meant to add flavor to the meat. I won Rs. 50 there.
5. This one is a little too technical but I won two drinks from a guy about how a certain model we'd made works.
A couple of bets that didn't go all the way through -
1. While at the food court a local mall, one guy said that he would just stand up and dance in the middle of the food court for 5 mins if someone paid him Rs. 500. Another friend and I said that we would put up the money if he did it but if he chickened out halfway through, he'd have to pay us. He decided not to go through with the bet. (This had a strong similarity to "Kramer's bet with Jerry about finishing a project" and then not paying because he "could have done it, but decided not to".)
2. While at the mela recently, another guy said that he would pose in an obscene fashion with one of the props at the mela for one whole minute for Rs. 200 and a couple of times that we went to the mela we came close to shaking on the bet but stopped short each time.
The point is, somehow I've got the reputation at work of someone who wins all his wagers and now people have stopped betting with me. I don't think it'll last, but for now, I'm off the gambling high. For now.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Choke-worthy meeting
I'm a non-violent person but there are a few categories of people I could strangle with my bare hands and not feel too guilty later - govt. employees, Chennai auto drivers, inconsiderate movie watchers etc. Very close to the top of that list are people who offer to "introduce you to a new business that will make you money", in other words the pyramid schemers!
I thought I was done with this since I wasn't in the US, but turns out that the virus has spread to India too. I got a call from my "tiffin aunty", the lady who provides us lunch. At first she talked about the latest payment and then invited me to her place for a "small meeting" to discuss a "business idea". Anyone who's ever attended one meeting like this can instantly spot another sales pitch. But I went partly out of affection for this lady who's been cooking for us (I know she charges for the food but you just can't say no to someone who feeds you). I told them, truthfully, that I had to leave in an hour but I could spare an hour. At their house there was this guy who was introduced to me. Now, I've met a lot of salesmen and frankly, these Northies can't do half as good a sales pitch as the ones in the South. His attempts to "connect" with me were too obvious and of course, it didn't help him at all that I had my guard up for about 12 hours before I even came to the meeting. Well nothing much to report on the pitch itself, very standard - they talk about how awesome it would be to have money, how you can elevate your standard of living and then throw these spurious numbers at you. It was all very practiced, with a few American idioms thrown in. At various points I wanted to show him exactly why pyramid schemes don't work and or atleast just yell at him for wasting my time but I just smiled and waited my hour out before leaving.
What really bothers me is that I am sure this had ruined my relationship with the "tiffin aunty". I don't how she'll handle the rejection and I don't know if I would be comfortable ordering lunch boxes from her again. Just a stupid situation all around.
I thought I was done with this since I wasn't in the US, but turns out that the virus has spread to India too. I got a call from my "tiffin aunty", the lady who provides us lunch. At first she talked about the latest payment and then invited me to her place for a "small meeting" to discuss a "business idea". Anyone who's ever attended one meeting like this can instantly spot another sales pitch. But I went partly out of affection for this lady who's been cooking for us (I know she charges for the food but you just can't say no to someone who feeds you). I told them, truthfully, that I had to leave in an hour but I could spare an hour. At their house there was this guy who was introduced to me. Now, I've met a lot of salesmen and frankly, these Northies can't do half as good a sales pitch as the ones in the South. His attempts to "connect" with me were too obvious and of course, it didn't help him at all that I had my guard up for about 12 hours before I even came to the meeting. Well nothing much to report on the pitch itself, very standard - they talk about how awesome it would be to have money, how you can elevate your standard of living and then throw these spurious numbers at you. It was all very practiced, with a few American idioms thrown in. At various points I wanted to show him exactly why pyramid schemes don't work and or atleast just yell at him for wasting my time but I just smiled and waited my hour out before leaving.
What really bothers me is that I am sure this had ruined my relationship with the "tiffin aunty". I don't how she'll handle the rejection and I don't know if I would be comfortable ordering lunch boxes from her again. Just a stupid situation all around.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Rajdhani back to Delhi
It's a big cliche but train journeys really are interesting. You get thrown into a small space with these people and are forced to interact in one way or another with them. Unlike a flight where you just sit still for a few hours and if you're lucky, talk to the people sitting on either side of you, a train gives you the opportunity to "explore your space". Everyone walks around and you hear snippets of conversation. Kids scream and run around because they don't feel cramped and that can be a blessing or a curse - sometimes the kid is cute and you love chatting with the kid. Sometimes the kid is just annoying and won't stop screaming or shouting. (Guess which happened this time!) You get to see these characters and guess their histories, and sometimes, before you get off the train, you might even have your guess validated.
(To get off track for a bit, no pun intended, I remember a train journey back from when I was very young and it was just my mom with my brother and I. We were sitting across from another similar family - mother with two kids who were close to our ages. (I must have been somewhere between 6 and 8 years old.) I got friendly with the older boy and my mom got chatty with the other lady. I noticed she didn't have a bindi/bottu on her forehead. Naturally I assumed that she was widowed. This greatly bothered me and I'm sure I felt bad for her but at the same time I very curious to know if I was right or if she was just "modern" and didn't bother wearing a bindi/bottu! In retrospect it seems very silly and I'll be the first to admit that it was none of my business. But back then I didn't know better. I kept thinking of ways to casually bring up the topic of fathers and ask the boy about his father. Right around that time the train passed by a famous "temple on a hill" (I can't remember the name now). The boy turned to me and said, "You should do a namaste, it's your God after all". And then it hit me. They were Christians! That's why the lady wasn't wearing a bottu! Of course while that didn't quite rule out the other possibility, I was happy knowing that I was wrong and frankly quite relieved.)
Nothing that dramatic happened this time but I was within earshot of a conversation between a military man and a civilian. After the civilian found out that this man was/is in the military, he started asking him about China and if we (India) had the guts to take them on if it came to a full-blown war. The military man gave an answer that was midway between jingoistic and diplomatic. I also had to shush a lady who was talking loud enough for the entire compartment to hear during the afternoon nap time. (On a very un-PC note, this lady had an arm that was twice as fat as my thigh, and it was hypnotic watching that muscle-less bulk sway with the motion of the train.) I got to see an angry old man send back soup, seriously! This guy had decided that if he was spending this much money on a train journey he would get his money's worth from it, so he kept arguing with the stewards - about the bedsheets, water bottles, blankets, and food. Pretty much anything he could complain about, he did. While dropping me off at the station my mom remarked about how this train would be very comfortable for old folks. Little did I know that this train actually drew old people like moths to a flame and the old people would in turn be these grumpy chaps who were bent on making their prescence felt!
The food though was amazing. This time I knew I'd be getting fed right off the bat and I was. They kept bringing in all sorts of food - breakfast, desserts, main dishes - at the right times and were even kind enough to wake up the sleeping people at mealtimes!
My one big regret was that I had planned on having access to a power source for my laptop which I was counting on to entertain me. I got a side lower seat which is just terrific in terms of having an isolated location with no disturbance from the other passengers, but had no power outlets. So I had to rely on my books and the newspapers. I did get to steal a few hours in someone else's berth while he was away but it wasn't very satisfying. The next time I get on this train, I think I have a foolproof plan to get a seat with a power outlet, let's see.
(To get off track for a bit, no pun intended, I remember a train journey back from when I was very young and it was just my mom with my brother and I. We were sitting across from another similar family - mother with two kids who were close to our ages. (I must have been somewhere between 6 and 8 years old.) I got friendly with the older boy and my mom got chatty with the other lady. I noticed she didn't have a bindi/bottu on her forehead. Naturally I assumed that she was widowed. This greatly bothered me and I'm sure I felt bad for her but at the same time I very curious to know if I was right or if she was just "modern" and didn't bother wearing a bindi/bottu! In retrospect it seems very silly and I'll be the first to admit that it was none of my business. But back then I didn't know better. I kept thinking of ways to casually bring up the topic of fathers and ask the boy about his father. Right around that time the train passed by a famous "temple on a hill" (I can't remember the name now). The boy turned to me and said, "You should do a namaste, it's your God after all". And then it hit me. They were Christians! That's why the lady wasn't wearing a bottu! Of course while that didn't quite rule out the other possibility, I was happy knowing that I was wrong and frankly quite relieved.)
Nothing that dramatic happened this time but I was within earshot of a conversation between a military man and a civilian. After the civilian found out that this man was/is in the military, he started asking him about China and if we (India) had the guts to take them on if it came to a full-blown war. The military man gave an answer that was midway between jingoistic and diplomatic. I also had to shush a lady who was talking loud enough for the entire compartment to hear during the afternoon nap time. (On a very un-PC note, this lady had an arm that was twice as fat as my thigh, and it was hypnotic watching that muscle-less bulk sway with the motion of the train.) I got to see an angry old man send back soup, seriously! This guy had decided that if he was spending this much money on a train journey he would get his money's worth from it, so he kept arguing with the stewards - about the bedsheets, water bottles, blankets, and food. Pretty much anything he could complain about, he did. While dropping me off at the station my mom remarked about how this train would be very comfortable for old folks. Little did I know that this train actually drew old people like moths to a flame and the old people would in turn be these grumpy chaps who were bent on making their prescence felt!
The food though was amazing. This time I knew I'd be getting fed right off the bat and I was. They kept bringing in all sorts of food - breakfast, desserts, main dishes - at the right times and were even kind enough to wake up the sleeping people at mealtimes!
My one big regret was that I had planned on having access to a power source for my laptop which I was counting on to entertain me. I got a side lower seat which is just terrific in terms of having an isolated location with no disturbance from the other passengers, but had no power outlets. So I had to rely on my books and the newspapers. I did get to steal a few hours in someone else's berth while he was away but it wasn't very satisfying. The next time I get on this train, I think I have a foolproof plan to get a seat with a power outlet, let's see.
Friday, October 16, 2009
"Please remove all metallic items you may be carrying - keys, loose change...holy s***!!!"
After Palika Bazaar, I got into my cab and reached the airport. At the airport, while checking in my luggage, I saw a sign at the counter that said that while a set of items was allowed in check-in, it would be better if they were declared ahead of time. Remember the gun-shaped butane lighter I purchased for Rs. 400? I didn't to have any trouble because of that and I told the girl at the counter in very clear terms that I had a "gun-shaped lighter" in my luggage. She simply said, "No problem." I told her again, "Are you sure it's not a problem?" At this point she turned to the porter that puts the luggage on the conveyor belt and asked him what he thought and even he said that it wouldn't be a problem. So I didn't think much of it at that point.
I got my security check done and I was typing up some emails when about 15 mins later I heard my name being called over the PA system! At first I was embarrassed and it took me a second to realize that no one there knew who I was. So I packed up and went to the gate I was paged to. There the agent from the airline took me aside and in a low voice asked me, "Sir, are you carrying a weapon in your luggage?" I was half-amused and half-angry. I explain that it wasn't a weapon, just a lighter. He asked me if I declared this during check-in. I explained to him in no uncertain terms that I did. Then he took me all the way back to the baggage check area, canceling my boarding pass on the way.
Once we got there another four agents joined us. Evidently this was as exciting as things had been all day. One of them was from Hyderabad! He asked me if I spoke the language and then proceeded to tell me again that this item was prohibited. I explained to him what I explained to the others. They believed me of course but then they told me that lighters were in fact not allowed in check-in baggage. I think they just made up that rule on the spot but I didn't want to argue too much. They said that they'd have to discharge my lighter and I let them. After being satisfied with the rest of the contents of my baggage, they assured me that neither I nor my bag would miss the flight. The first agent then personally got me a new boarding pass, accompanied me through a sort of express security check and walked me all the way to my gate.
Along the way I asked him if guns were allowed. Turns out guns are alright if you had the right documents to go with the guns (but fake guns like mine aren't!). What about VIPs and their entourages, I asked. Apparently VIPs don't even enter the airport lounges to being with, they are ushered directly to the flight through a separate gate. Very informative and all that. I couldn't be too mad at the airline either but I was hoping they'd upgrade me to first class to make up for the "inconvenience" they put me through, but I just couldn't get myself to ask for it.
I got my security check done and I was typing up some emails when about 15 mins later I heard my name being called over the PA system! At first I was embarrassed and it took me a second to realize that no one there knew who I was. So I packed up and went to the gate I was paged to. There the agent from the airline took me aside and in a low voice asked me, "Sir, are you carrying a weapon in your luggage?" I was half-amused and half-angry. I explain that it wasn't a weapon, just a lighter. He asked me if I declared this during check-in. I explained to him in no uncertain terms that I did. Then he took me all the way back to the baggage check area, canceling my boarding pass on the way.
Once we got there another four agents joined us. Evidently this was as exciting as things had been all day. One of them was from Hyderabad! He asked me if I spoke the language and then proceeded to tell me again that this item was prohibited. I explained to him what I explained to the others. They believed me of course but then they told me that lighters were in fact not allowed in check-in baggage. I think they just made up that rule on the spot but I didn't want to argue too much. They said that they'd have to discharge my lighter and I let them. After being satisfied with the rest of the contents of my baggage, they assured me that neither I nor my bag would miss the flight. The first agent then personally got me a new boarding pass, accompanied me through a sort of express security check and walked me all the way to my gate.
Along the way I asked him if guns were allowed. Turns out guns are alright if you had the right documents to go with the guns (but fake guns like mine aren't!). What about VIPs and their entourages, I asked. Apparently VIPs don't even enter the airport lounges to being with, they are ushered directly to the flight through a separate gate. Very informative and all that. I couldn't be too mad at the airline either but I was hoping they'd upgrade me to first class to make up for the "inconvenience" they put me through, but I just couldn't get myself to ask for it.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Delhi: The Palika Bazaar
In Delhi, I had a few hours to kill so I decided to go to Palika Bazaar. I love that place, it's a great shopping complex. Completely underground. Also as it turned out, great bargains for those smart enough to bargain.
I walked around in a daze for a little while, stunned by the crowd and the variety of stores. The hottest stuff seemed to be "Chinese Mobiles" - good mobiles dumped from China. The various stores in the complex also sell clothes, other electronics, CDs/DVDs, handicrafts, and some books, snacks etc. As I was walking by one of the stores this one guy sidled up to me and said in a low voice, "Sir, would you like to buy some triple-X DVDs? Good quality sir". I was surprised but not too shocked. I said I didn't want any and walked away. After that point, atleast five other guys at various locations asked me if I wanted to buy porn! I had to ask myself what I looked like to these people that they felt I was the porn-buying type. Then again, maybe "porn-buying type" is just synonymous with "guy".
I don't think this applies to all of Palika Bazaar but at atleast a couple of stores, I had trouble moving around people. Now, normally if I am walking in a crowded corridor and I end up right in front of another person, and if the other person doesn't give me way, I just walk around that person. Even if the person is being a jackass and deliberately not giving me way, I wouldn't be too bothered. (After my *ahem* incident a few months ago, I've been very gun-shy, so to speak.) But when I'm trying to leave a store, and the other person is standing the doorway, facing me, but not giving me way, I find that very puzzling. The two times this happened there, the guy wasn't trying to pick a fight or something - he was just standing there, looking at something even as I walked up to him and was standing a couple of inches from his face. The first time after waiting for a couple of seconds, I put both my hands on him and very gently pushed him to get his attention. The guy just stepped back like he didn't even realize I was there! The next time the same thing happened I didn't even hesitate to push the guy to the side as I was leaving. It's kinda weird, almost like they describe it in the movie "Crash" - that people are so lonely that they'll do anything for some human contact, even crashing!
At this one store I saw a gun, which I knew was a butane lighter. Now I've always been fascinated by toy guns. Real guns scare me but I always enjoy playing with toy guns. So I couldn't resist this. I figured I'd just buy one and gift it to someone. I asked about the price of a small one and the guy said, "Rs. 900". I felt that it was way above my budget, particularly if I was giving it away to someone else. I told the shopkeeper I wasn't interested and started walking away. He kept pushing talking about the finish of the piece etc. I told him that indeed it was a very beautiful piece and probably even worth the price tag but it was way above my budget. How much were you planning to spend, he asked me. Not more than Rs. 400. OK, it's yours. I was shocked! Just like that? And later in Hyd when I started telling my dad this story and came to the point where he quoted Rs. 900, my dad immediately said that I should have asked him for Rs. 150. I felt like a fool for thinking I had bargained him down from Rs. 900 when instead I had probably paid Rs. 200 more than it was worth. Oh well, it still is a cool item and it got me material for my next post!
I walked around in a daze for a little while, stunned by the crowd and the variety of stores. The hottest stuff seemed to be "Chinese Mobiles" - good mobiles dumped from China. The various stores in the complex also sell clothes, other electronics, CDs/DVDs, handicrafts, and some books, snacks etc. As I was walking by one of the stores this one guy sidled up to me and said in a low voice, "Sir, would you like to buy some triple-X DVDs? Good quality sir". I was surprised but not too shocked. I said I didn't want any and walked away. After that point, atleast five other guys at various locations asked me if I wanted to buy porn! I had to ask myself what I looked like to these people that they felt I was the porn-buying type. Then again, maybe "porn-buying type" is just synonymous with "guy".
I don't think this applies to all of Palika Bazaar but at atleast a couple of stores, I had trouble moving around people. Now, normally if I am walking in a crowded corridor and I end up right in front of another person, and if the other person doesn't give me way, I just walk around that person. Even if the person is being a jackass and deliberately not giving me way, I wouldn't be too bothered. (After my *ahem* incident a few months ago, I've been very gun-shy, so to speak.) But when I'm trying to leave a store, and the other person is standing the doorway, facing me, but not giving me way, I find that very puzzling. The two times this happened there, the guy wasn't trying to pick a fight or something - he was just standing there, looking at something even as I walked up to him and was standing a couple of inches from his face. The first time after waiting for a couple of seconds, I put both my hands on him and very gently pushed him to get his attention. The guy just stepped back like he didn't even realize I was there! The next time the same thing happened I didn't even hesitate to push the guy to the side as I was leaving. It's kinda weird, almost like they describe it in the movie "Crash" - that people are so lonely that they'll do anything for some human contact, even crashing!
At this one store I saw a gun, which I knew was a butane lighter. Now I've always been fascinated by toy guns. Real guns scare me but I always enjoy playing with toy guns. So I couldn't resist this. I figured I'd just buy one and gift it to someone. I asked about the price of a small one and the guy said, "Rs. 900". I felt that it was way above my budget, particularly if I was giving it away to someone else. I told the shopkeeper I wasn't interested and started walking away. He kept pushing talking about the finish of the piece etc. I told him that indeed it was a very beautiful piece and probably even worth the price tag but it was way above my budget. How much were you planning to spend, he asked me. Not more than Rs. 400. OK, it's yours. I was shocked! Just like that? And later in Hyd when I started telling my dad this story and came to the point where he quoted Rs. 900, my dad immediately said that I should have asked him for Rs. 150. I felt like a fool for thinking I had bargained him down from Rs. 900 when instead I had probably paid Rs. 200 more than it was worth. Oh well, it still is a cool item and it got me material for my next post!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Shatabdi to Delhi
I am making a trip to Hyderabad to surprise my parents for Deepawali. I'll also be stopping in Delhi on the way to take care of some business, so I took off from Chandigarh on the 6:15pm Shatabdi to Delhi. Now I am not very familiar with the trains in India. My usage of them even when I lived here was limited to the Chennai/Charminar express trains that took me to Chennai and back, and the Godavari that took us to Vizag every summer. I'd be hard pressed to name a fourth train from among the largest train network in the world! Add Shatabdi to that list now.
All I knew about this train was that it was quite a fast train going from C'garh to Delhi in about 3.5 hours, as compared to the 5 hours that a bus takes and 6 hours that a regular train takes. Since the journey is very short and not overnight, almost all trains on this route are "chair cars" as opposed to "sleepers". I also knew that this train was fully air-conditioned. At C'garh it arrived and departed barely 10 mins late. I had asked for and got a window seat when I booked my seats on the Indian Railways website, but since the journey started almost at sunset, I didn't have much of a view.
Almost as soon as it took off from C'garh, a bunch of uniformed IR workers started serving snacks. I thought I'd have to pay for them or atleast have ordered them in advance. Turned out neither was the case. The food service was part of the ticket price! So for Rs. 505 I was not only being taken from C'garh to Delhi in a nice, clean a/c train, I was being fed as well. And darn it all if they didn't keep bringing the food almost the entire length of the trip! The food included -
1. A snack plate with a sanwich, a samosa with ketchup, "saunpapdi", mango juice and some hard candy.
2. Tomato Soup with breadsticks (unfortunately they served the breadsticks first and I thought that was all I was getting and I ate them up before the soup showed up!)
3. Dinner plate with rice, roti, dal, panneer curry and a small salad.
4. Ice Cream.
I have no idea why anyone would travel by flight from C'garh to Delhi seeing as this train is available. Taking into account the flight check in times etc, this train compares very well with the flight and it costs a fraction of what the flight does. Best of all you don't have to put up with the snooty flight attendents and the redundant security and then pay for the water and peanuts they serve you on the flight. I've always had a lot of respect for the way Indian Railways runs its business (outside of Bihar) but this confirmed it. Indian Railways, you rock!
All I knew about this train was that it was quite a fast train going from C'garh to Delhi in about 3.5 hours, as compared to the 5 hours that a bus takes and 6 hours that a regular train takes. Since the journey is very short and not overnight, almost all trains on this route are "chair cars" as opposed to "sleepers". I also knew that this train was fully air-conditioned. At C'garh it arrived and departed barely 10 mins late. I had asked for and got a window seat when I booked my seats on the Indian Railways website, but since the journey started almost at sunset, I didn't have much of a view.
Almost as soon as it took off from C'garh, a bunch of uniformed IR workers started serving snacks. I thought I'd have to pay for them or atleast have ordered them in advance. Turned out neither was the case. The food service was part of the ticket price! So for Rs. 505 I was not only being taken from C'garh to Delhi in a nice, clean a/c train, I was being fed as well. And darn it all if they didn't keep bringing the food almost the entire length of the trip! The food included -
1. A snack plate with a sanwich, a samosa with ketchup, "saunpapdi", mango juice and some hard candy.
2. Tomato Soup with breadsticks (unfortunately they served the breadsticks first and I thought that was all I was getting and I ate them up before the soup showed up!)
3. Dinner plate with rice, roti, dal, panneer curry and a small salad.
4. Ice Cream.
I have no idea why anyone would travel by flight from C'garh to Delhi seeing as this train is available. Taking into account the flight check in times etc, this train compares very well with the flight and it costs a fraction of what the flight does. Best of all you don't have to put up with the snooty flight attendents and the redundant security and then pay for the water and peanuts they serve you on the flight. I've always had a lot of respect for the way Indian Railways runs its business (outside of Bihar) but this confirmed it. Indian Railways, you rock!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Grinch who stole Navratri (from me)
After missing out on Garba for almost two years I finally managed to get to one all the way in Chandigarh. I saw an ad in the paper and got super excited. I even tried to invite all the folks at work but no one seemed interested. That's just sad. But luckily one guy in my team is Gujrati and he has a bike as well, so we went. It look us a long time to find the place and even when we did, it was a total fluke that led us to the place. No matter, we were there and I was very excited about attending my first garba in about two years.
The crowd wasn't too big but sufficiently big enough that there were good-sized circles. What I hadn't counted on was that the garba/raas I was used to in the US is (probably) a bastardized version of the original dance they do in Gujarat. So when I joined the raas circle, I faltered. In the US, this wouldn't have been a big deal, the line would compensate. But here, a big fat Gujju lady looked at me like I was dirt! I gave an apologetic grin and continued. The next partner was younger and he just continued without a problem. The one after that was Mr. Grinch himself. The Gujju Nazi! He saw me falter and almost threw me out of the line with his hands! He said, in Hindi, "If you don't know how to dance, you shouldn't join the line". Before I could say "I am learning" he very rudely gestured to me with his dandiya sticks to get out of the line. It was humiliating. It really ruined the whole evening for me and we ended up leaving almost immediately.
There were a few Punjabis I saw at the beginning of the evening. Loud boisterous types who were as always having fun. They were doing their own Bhangra thing and it annoyed me a lot. The biggest irony was that I dislike Bhangra a lot - it's too much freestyle in the way it's done by everyone. And I was sitting there smug thinking to myself that I knew how to do the Garba and so I was better. Boy was it humbling! I came away feeling a lot more love for Bhangra and its forgiving nature due to the very freestyle I hated till then!
The crowd wasn't too big but sufficiently big enough that there were good-sized circles. What I hadn't counted on was that the garba/raas I was used to in the US is (probably) a bastardized version of the original dance they do in Gujarat. So when I joined the raas circle, I faltered. In the US, this wouldn't have been a big deal, the line would compensate. But here, a big fat Gujju lady looked at me like I was dirt! I gave an apologetic grin and continued. The next partner was younger and he just continued without a problem. The one after that was Mr. Grinch himself. The Gujju Nazi! He saw me falter and almost threw me out of the line with his hands! He said, in Hindi, "If you don't know how to dance, you shouldn't join the line". Before I could say "I am learning" he very rudely gestured to me with his dandiya sticks to get out of the line. It was humiliating. It really ruined the whole evening for me and we ended up leaving almost immediately.
There were a few Punjabis I saw at the beginning of the evening. Loud boisterous types who were as always having fun. They were doing their own Bhangra thing and it annoyed me a lot. The biggest irony was that I dislike Bhangra a lot - it's too much freestyle in the way it's done by everyone. And I was sitting there smug thinking to myself that I knew how to do the Garba and so I was better. Boy was it humbling! I came away feeling a lot more love for Bhangra and its forgiving nature due to the very freestyle I hated till then!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Working around it
One big change that's being enforced in the cities is the ban on child labor. You cannot hire kids anymore - for lifting bricks, for cleaning your cars or even for household chores. The police, I guess got a lot of pressure from the government which in turn must be responding to pressure from activist groups. This has led to a huge shortage of labor. Housewives like my mother struggled to find a good maid to help around the house and poaching the maids is now becoming an issue. As of now, we're lucky that my mom has a good reliable person helping around the house.
Our office is another story. The staff here includes some people to clean the floors and some to hand out cups of coffee/tea a few times a day. This one guy in particular looked no older than 12. I was shocked that the office was hiring him and exposing itself to big trouble from the cops. So I asked him one day how old he was. He said he was 21. I was surprised because he didn't look that old. He said that he was married and even had a kid. Oh well, I thought, maybe he just looks young. Then in our new office we met another guy who was definitely no older than 12. This one smiled when he tried to tell us that he was 18. And that's when I heard the full story from a colleague here. These boys are sent to the cities for work. Especially in nice offices like ours where the pay is good. They're told to tell everyone that they're 18 or older and they probably even have fake birth certificates to show that.
Now I'm not one of those that is entirely opposed to Child Labor, so I am not entirely outraged at this. But I was amused at this neat little work around. Sort of the opposite of "But officer, she said she was 18...."
Our office is another story. The staff here includes some people to clean the floors and some to hand out cups of coffee/tea a few times a day. This one guy in particular looked no older than 12. I was shocked that the office was hiring him and exposing itself to big trouble from the cops. So I asked him one day how old he was. He said he was 21. I was surprised because he didn't look that old. He said that he was married and even had a kid. Oh well, I thought, maybe he just looks young. Then in our new office we met another guy who was definitely no older than 12. This one smiled when he tried to tell us that he was 18. And that's when I heard the full story from a colleague here. These boys are sent to the cities for work. Especially in nice offices like ours where the pay is good. They're told to tell everyone that they're 18 or older and they probably even have fake birth certificates to show that.
Now I'm not one of those that is entirely opposed to Child Labor, so I am not entirely outraged at this. But I was amused at this neat little work around. Sort of the opposite of "But officer, she said she was 18...."
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