1. Madumm's bacchas = Macchas.
Madumm and her macchas (casual term meaning friend in tamil) sit in their own fun space.
As always my Man-Fridays at work are men. Turns out, ironically that is the case in this office; most men are mentored or led by women. Smart, multi-cultural and funny women. From Chennai, Kolhapur, Nanded etc. With regional accents and broken-english, but impeccable technical profess. Language never held barriers to education or experience, I had heard and now witnessing first-hand, every day.
2. What is with middle-aged Indian men? The inquisition doesn’t merely stop at “Which department are you working in?” or “Madumm, Aap India ke hain?”. It extends to “How much are you getting as a package in this project?” to “How old are you, if I may ask?” to “Why you are not living with your parents?” to the best one I’ve got so far “Tellllll something about your family, Madumm”.
3. Picked up parents from the airport, for the second time, in 5 weeks; much to their delight. The first time being, at Newark, NJ, when they visited us for the summer and the second time here in Mumbai, when they come back home from their vacation. It was nice to be standing in the spacious arrivals zone, waiting for them to appear and then scream "Mummyyyy" at their sight :)
4. Re-discovered how much paperwork Indians rely on, to get the smallest of jobs done. Paperwork for stationery, paperwork for lunch coupons, paperwork for email access, paperwork for potty……(Actually, that’s the one place where you need paper and it’s barely there, ever!:)
5. Office hierarchies prevail more visibly in India, than in the US, of course. The funny thing is everyone my age or in the +/- 3 years range, call me ‘Shweta’, while everyone 35+ calls me 'Madam'. In return, I find it hard to re-embrace the prefix ‘Sir’ or ‘Saarrr’ as they say here. Instead, I make do with adding a prefix “Mr.” instead.
6. It’s brilliant when the bank comes to you, to open your account, instead of you going to them. That, the banker comes late, wants to leave ASAP as “It’s my branch managers birthday Ma’m and I need to buy the cake” and assumes conveniently that you must tick in the “Single” and “Living with parents” boxes on the form, is of course another story.
7. The driver, Satish’s brother, passes the HSC exam with 48%. Satish wants Madumm to tell him what is LLB as that is what the brother will pursue henceforth. “Usme bahut paisa hai na Madumm”.
8. Finally gave in to Cho’s demand to eat outside the cafeteria. Cho, my Korean ex-co worker and good friend, hates Indian food, with a vengeance. He eats it everyday at the cafeteria, with half an heart and tops it up with 3 granola bars so that his stomach feels full. I finally relented and figured let’s take him to Mainland China. I wasn’t really ready to see the unleashed Cho, gobble away at 3/4th the food ordered on the table, at the end of which he held my hand and bowed in Asian style, saying “Thank You Shweta. You have saved my life today”. Shweta had a nice feeling that day, but is not sure she wants to go there every day, as Cho now irritatingly insists.
9. Two papads on my plate, every day, among other desi home-cooked delicacies at cafeteria lunch. Until the day, the “kitchen boy” standing behind the buffet says “Madumm, one papad only” while extending his hand on to Madumm's plate. One papad swiftly jumps out of Madumm's plate and back into the buffet :). A miffed Madumm, couldn’t really do anything, but smirk.
10. T.V Serials are such fun, especially when they are daily soaps. Something to look forward to, after work and gym, everyday. Got mom hooked onto a serial I watch every day on Sony, called 'Ladies Special'. Silly, corny, completely women-oriented and often sad, but not the saas-bahu crap atleast, I convince myself :). In India, watching Indian!
11. Colleague at work, mutters something in Marathi, under his breath at Cho, during a meeting. Yes, they can be that unprofessional at times! He said “Kay vedaa aahey ha!” (meaning “He’s so mad). I couldn’t help but give in saying, “Ho! Khupach” (meaning “Ya he is, quite mad.”) Of course, I told Cho and embarassed the desi colleague eventually.
12. The weekend began Saturday 5 pm, when a few of us sneaked out of work, about an hour early, for our own heritage-walk. We drove all the way to Ballard Estates to see what used to be Mumbai’s first CBD (Central Business District) and then drove all along the Eastern Waterfronts, not sensing the ocean which lay within 15 feet from us, as is the case with Mumbai’s eastern coast line. We then reached The Asiatic Society and sat on the steps for a while. My mind couldn’t help but make a comparison with the Federal Hall on Wall Street, where we often ate lunch, on some days. Horniman Circle was next, (also called as the “Horny man’s circle”) and then we walked all the way to Flora Fountain, Watsons Hotel (of the ‘Dogs and Indian’s not allowed’ fame), Kala Ghoda and the Naval docks and then turned around. Dinner followed at Moshe’s (opened by a Jewish restaurateur, hence the name) that serves every Non-Indian dish you could crave for. Sticking by my strict ‘When in India, drink Indian’ motto, I ordered Grover’s Reserve (No, they didn’t have Sula) which was not so bad, actually. After fondue and Ravas cooked Italian style, we ended on a sweet note with the best ‘mango cheese cake’ any of us had ever had. The night flowed into ‘Wink’ at the President Hotel, where random zig-zagged brick walls caught my fancy, more than the loud music. Obviously, Mumbai still likes places that blast music loud enough, so that you have to compete with it, to have an audible conversation. A walk along Marine Drive was supposed to be the natural end to the night, but everyone was tired and so we just drove past it, to get home by 2 am instead.
13. Sunday was spent running 6 miles (or shall I say 9.6 km) on the treadmill, in the gym, as part of the half-marathon training. A fantastic aamras-poori and chicken biryani lunch cooked by Mum-in-law followed with some more catching up with family. The night ended in a new apartment, another 3 bedroom, slightly smaller than the previous one. This is now my permanent home for this temporary period in Mumbai.
Here's the link for Week 2 in pictures:
10. T.V Serials are such fun, especially when they are daily soaps. Something to look forward to, after work and gym, everyday. Got mom hooked onto a serial I watch every day on Sony, called 'Ladies Special'. Silly, corny, completely women-oriented and often sad, but not the saas-bahu crap atleast, I convince myself :). In India, watching Indian!
11. Colleague at work, mutters something in Marathi, under his breath at Cho, during a meeting. Yes, they can be that unprofessional at times! He said “Kay vedaa aahey ha!” (meaning “He’s so mad). I couldn’t help but give in saying, “Ho! Khupach” (meaning “Ya he is, quite mad.”) Of course, I told Cho and embarassed the desi colleague eventually.
12. The weekend began Saturday 5 pm, when a few of us sneaked out of work, about an hour early, for our own heritage-walk. We drove all the way to Ballard Estates to see what used to be Mumbai’s first CBD (Central Business District) and then drove all along the Eastern Waterfronts, not sensing the ocean which lay within 15 feet from us, as is the case with Mumbai’s eastern coast line. We then reached The Asiatic Society and sat on the steps for a while. My mind couldn’t help but make a comparison with the Federal Hall on Wall Street, where we often ate lunch, on some days. Horniman Circle was next, (also called as the “Horny man’s circle”) and then we walked all the way to Flora Fountain, Watsons Hotel (of the ‘Dogs and Indian’s not allowed’ fame), Kala Ghoda and the Naval docks and then turned around. Dinner followed at Moshe’s (opened by a Jewish restaurateur, hence the name) that serves every Non-Indian dish you could crave for. Sticking by my strict ‘When in India, drink Indian’ motto, I ordered Grover’s Reserve (No, they didn’t have Sula) which was not so bad, actually. After fondue and Ravas cooked Italian style, we ended on a sweet note with the best ‘mango cheese cake’ any of us had ever had. The night flowed into ‘Wink’ at the President Hotel, where random zig-zagged brick walls caught my fancy, more than the loud music. Obviously, Mumbai still likes places that blast music loud enough, so that you have to compete with it, to have an audible conversation. A walk along Marine Drive was supposed to be the natural end to the night, but everyone was tired and so we just drove past it, to get home by 2 am instead.
13. Sunday was spent running 6 miles (or shall I say 9.6 km) on the treadmill, in the gym, as part of the half-marathon training. A fantastic aamras-poori and chicken biryani lunch cooked by Mum-in-law followed with some more catching up with family. The night ended in a new apartment, another 3 bedroom, slightly smaller than the previous one. This is now my permanent home for this temporary period in Mumbai.
Here's the link for Week 2 in pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/shweyta/MumbaiDiariesWeek2?feat=directlink
Until Mumbai Diaries - Week 3, take care and keep in touch :)
In anticipation of rains,
Until Mumbai Diaries - Week 3, take care and keep in touch :)
In anticipation of rains,
Shweyta
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