Indian Flavour in the Dunes

As summer was at its peak in the oil zone, life seemed to have slowed down quite a bit. There isn’t necessarily a correlation between the two, but both, the weather as well as other things in general are looking up now.

With that background in place, let me tell you a little about the new things that I have learned recently.

Hashkal! This is a word apparently only known to folks in Abu Dhabi. It’s Arabic, yes, but colloquial enough to not even have reached Dubai. Meaning? The India equivalent of – hold your breath – LS! Yes, the ‘term’ most recently heard in that obnoxious Delhi Girl video. All things down-market have a special word in all languages, isn’t it? I’m still laughing!

The Indian Lane! I was in a room full of Brits and conversations, as usual, were around cultural differences. One of the things that came up was driving etiquette. I obviously didn’t have much to say on this one. But one of the guys did get to explaining how the lane next to the fast lane is referred to as the Indian Lane here. The reason? People in India are taught to keep in the middle lane and even on a five-lane road, they drive at 50 kmph in the second fastest lane. And that same day I spotted two such cars on the road. Pff.

Madrasis! You think only north Indians are ignorant enough to call all south Indians that? FYI - my Pakistani driver folks also call them that. Yes, I am yet to meet a Tam buddy here. Till then, all of Kerala in the Gelf comes from Madras!

Aside: I made conversation with a taxi driver after quite a while today. Actually, he did all the talking. And gave me some really nice biscuits which had been gifted to him by a well-wisher. This is the second time I broke bread with a taxi driver. Last time, it was at Iftar time during Ramadan. The eccentric, talkative guy had refused to eat until I ate some of his super tasty food.

Filipino Delight! These guys are collectively the most pleasant community ever! They may look serious, distressed or even uninterested, but they’ll always be so polite and patient that there is no way on earth you can ignore them or their pleasantries. And now when I go out, I don't look for Indian faces around. (Abu Dhabi does give more choices than Dubai, for sure!) 

Prince Chocolate Biscuits! Yes, these deserve an exclamation mark too. Sure everyone has had good chocolate biscuits at some point in life, but you’ve got to try these (you’ll never have one) to know what I am talking about. Apparently, people who have grown up in this country have been indulging in these for years together. You can never get over them. So I know wherever in the world I go next, instead of importing original Maggi, I shall import these Prince biscuits! :D

Indulgence

A chocolate cake and a long, warm hug - indulgent wishes of the night.

The Outside Perspective

It’s the I-Day week. The tricolour is taking over people’s profile pictures on Facebook. Incidentally, this weekend I also complete six months living away from India. Under the myopic lens, I am glad I have the day off (Friday, the Middle East’s Sunday) or I know I would have cribbed to no end. But my end of day media consumption has triggered an emotion that I have been trying to communicate unsuccessfully since the pre-election days.

 This video on women’s safety in India got me thinking. I won’t go by the title on the page, but it drives home one point for me – that India is home and nothing should make one want to leave it for good. Yes, many people are more practical than that and leave for a more comfortable/peaceful/safer/saner/ life elsewhere. But I take comfort in the fact that I will return sooner than later. Because as hypocritical as we may be as a society, we have the liberty to raise our voice if we want to. There’s the freedom to call a spade a spade if you feel like it. A light exchange with friends led me to say yesterday that the Middle Eastern countries that are peaceful today are those that are politically correct. I don’t think I realized what I said until after I did. And as disheartening as it is to say this, I think we take for granted that being in India allows us to be who we are. I am not saying we don’t have laws that are irrelevant or enforcement agencies that are ineffective or SO MANY PEOPLE who are plain fucked up. But we have our freedom of speech and make no mistake that few things in the world are as repressive as not being allowed to express a thought.     

In the recent months, I have been torn between being tolerant and being impatient towards some of the things that our generation faces or resists in India. I sometimes feel we do not need to react to situations as wildly as we do – the Sachin-Sharapova episode (both sides of the argument) – and at times it’s as if our voices are getting lost in the oblivion – there are endless examples of this, aren’t there? But the reality is that sane voices of change exist and we’ll have to patiently and optimistically wait for a time when we evolve to be a better society. We are messed up as a country, but we have hope. Because we have a voice.

Here’s to a better 68 years, a better generation ahead!