Prashant

Bangalore 01-aug-11

I was enjoying a party in one of the south east Asian country. Drinking beer, whisky having local delicacies and dancing is always followed like a custom in parties. I had something spicy and rushed to find water. I looked here and there when a low pitch voice flown in my ear " what are you looking for ?" I looked around and in no time located where from this voice came. " Yes I would like to have some water, I ate something spicy ". She said " Paani Chahiye ?" 

I was surprised to listen that. " Paani ... Yes you are right. In hindi we call it Paani". Since water was the only urgent mission nothing else could divert me from that. She got one bottle from somewhere and passed to me. 

When party started losing youth and people started leaving, suddenly I remembered that girl. I looked around . She was still enjoying the party. I took my beer glass and joined that group. After initial cheers and bottom up kind of triggers I asked that girl. "How you learnt this word? ". She replied " I was in India for long time. Long enough to see its culture, cherish different delicacies and attended some marriage events as well.". It sound good. I wanted to ask her many questions but did not want to make party a Q&A session. With formal talks and laughter we said bye with a plan to meet in near future.

Soon we met for one more beer session in a live music show coffee shop.

 "You love beer it seems" i asked as ice breaker.

"in this country everyone loves beer, especially during festival season and in parties we drink a lot "

"Yes I have experienced this.So you might had a bad time in India. Buying beer itself is a challenge"

"Ya, once in evening I straight walked to nearby liquor shop wearing half pant and a loose t-shirt. it was crowded with men. I thought it is just a matter of chance. So I tried to reach counter and asked for 2 bottle beer. All the men started looking at me. I think shopkeeper understood that I am not from India. He told me not to go to any such shop since in India girls are not allowed to drink"

" Then how did you manage to get the drink ?"

"we had one guy in our group and from that time he was the designated as the head of this department"

"I see, what you liked about India then?"

" India is diversified country, it have sea beaches, mountains, snow fall, places of historical importance and places of religious importance. If you love travelling, India is a perfect place to spend your time. ALong with that, things are really cheap. At least cheaper then my country."

"So how did you used to bargain in India ?"

"I learnt one word ... kam kar do bhaayya.. Whenever I wanted to bargain I will say this"

I could not control my laughter the way she uttered this line.

"Which all places you visited in India ?" I asked

"Tajmahal of course, Bodhgaya, kullu manali, Delhi, Rajasthan Jaipur. Also I visited Nepal Kathmandu. I want to go to India again and visit Goa and Mumbai. I loved Jaipur, bought lot of souvenir from there."

"Did you try Indian Dishes? "

" Yes , me and my friends always used to go to eat chaat and gol gappe. It seems Indians love chicken. any where if there is non-veg there is only chicken. I liked tandoori chicken and roti. I tried briyani and many dishes. Many names I can not remember now."

"Did you get any chance to attend Indian festivals or marriage events ? "

" Oh Yes. We celebrated Holi in our group. every one was shouting that day. Holi Hai.. Holi Hai.. We colored each other. This festival was really a fun. Also I attended one of my friends marriage. It was nice. At entrance there were different dishes. everyone wore so colorful dresses with full of jwelleries. The bride was looking really beautiful.But there was no beer or whisky in marriage party. "

"Holi is one of the best festival I like in India. In this festival you can color anyone. Generally liquor is not part of our culture. It is not seen as a good thing. "

" Did you miss your country when you were in India ? "

I missed my family, and I used to talk almost everyday over skype with my family"

" Did you visit any discotheque or night club in India ?? "

"Yes, It was nice. We enjoyed a lot there. only difference was in India lot of guys were there then girls."

"hmm.. Yes. Any bad experience??"

"Yes, One day me and my friend was going to discotheque in night when some guys came on motorbike and touched my friends body and went. My friend was talking to someone on her mobile. She threw the mobile on them. They caught it and ran. Behind that another motorbike came which teased my and left. It was the worst experience I had in India."

"Did you try any Indian Traditional dress ? "

" No, generally the dressing style is tshirt and jeans what I felt in India. I did not dare to try saree as it looks so complicated to wear. "

It was getting dark so we called waiter for bill and then we left.

As soon as the wheels touched the sacred land of India my mind announced “welcome back to the real life. The fun time is over”. Although onsite assignments are always tedious with crunch of time and loads of work, but still it makes those moments unforgettable. Walking out of the airport, my body and mind, suddenly gets in rush and alert theme. Sir taxi .. sir taxi .. I was looking for a taxi but same time I pretend that I didn’t listen to them. I had to make sure that the taxi I am hiring will not cheat me.
Asked one taxi wala .. how much u will charge to old airport ? .. sir .. according to meter. Ok that’s good. Let’s go. On the way I tried to speak in Hindi but he was not comfortable in Hindi. What a sad thing back in my country and still struggling with English.
Evening was generally nice to see in the countries I visited. All the coffee shops and restaurants will be full as soon as the sun deeps in the west. People will be seating together laughing, talking and sharing their gossip. Beer starts bubbling out in glass full of ice. “No anxiety no rush, just chill and enjoy” looks like slogan you can smell in air. A loud sound of “cheers”(‘mot hi ba yo’ in Vietnamese or ‘muoth’ in Lao) can be easily audible when you cross some restaurants. I sometimes wonder how these people get time to spend their evening in such coffee shops and restaurants. Eventually I got a chance to see living style of the local people very closely. Most of the office including govt offices starts at 8am and ends at 5pm. When you say 8 it is 8. All employees are in by the time. People will be laughing talking and tickling each other creating a jolly mood to work. Average once in 2 week there will be a team party thrown by Project manager or the organization. Once in a while an excursion trip of 2-3 days is also organized. With all hardwork work we put, these types of boosters were always kept the work interesting. People will be so friendly that only with the eye contact, triggers the exchange of smile in spite that we never met before.

Most of the people close their work by 5pm with a simple reason that “I have a family too”. A kind of smiling and laughing faces around with a party like environment in evening when light tops are in action, couples and family in their best colorful dress roaming on road leaves you with a joyous weather.
As soon as I land in India I feel like I am back in race. There is hardly smiling face you can find. Office will be a place where silence is best observed with almost no bursting of laughter. Anxiety and frustration can be seen on people face with most of the discussion will be about their dissatisfaction to company or politicians. Whatever project is over, whatever milestone is achieved team party or excursion is rarely seen. People will appear in office with straight face as if hiding their all anger and frustration, fulfilling their work, trying best to finish the assignments and then go back home when they feel it is good enough time to go home take dinner and fall down on bed.
When I come out of office, I only see people are in rush to go back home. The bus is always crowded whenever I board it. The only option I am always left with is to travel in it standing. When I look around people are sitting with straight face. Hardly have I seen couple have jolly conversation or some laughter cracking. Sometimes at some corner pan shop some friend group will have something to laugh and smile on.
Everyone is in race, race with themselves, race with society, race with their past. In this race anxiety and frustration is quite common. As soon as you fall in this society you also start running, start rushing to find better and better life. I also started running, got something better than before, and hence had anxiety and confusion for last 28 days since I landed. Finally selected one option and moved ahead from myself and from my past. Same time, ruled out the anxiety and rush for few days.
Still I miss those satisfied and smiling faces and envy with them, how cool they can live life, how at every overtime they will be served with bottle of beers and whisky inside office drinking bottomless and how completion of project will lead to some excursion, how with all the pressure and tension everyone were laughing and smiling and teasing each other, how comfortable they made us with them and involved us in all their fun activities in spite of language problem.
These things always force me to think where are we rushing to? How long we will keep selling our present happiness for our future. And how long it will take for India to have such a jolly work environment respecting the human lives.

Who says "What is there in name?" .. I think there is something in name.

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