Incident 1: Of Moustaches and Newspapers
It’s just another usual day. I get into the BART, and find a seat. Since the gas prices have dropped, finding seats in BART has become easy again. I make myself comfortable in the seat and look outside at the green undulating hills around Fremont. I never tire of them.
As the train started moving, I take a look at my co-travelers. I always wonder how as a result of traveling some distance together, I was bound to these people in a certain way…that I was sharing some time with prefect strangers in close proximity, seeing the same views, breathing the same air…heading the same way. Sleepy-eyed, bored, nerdy, impertinent…but most of all indifferent faces abound in my compartment. I have always considered trains to be intimate…a place which invites you to shed your inhibitions. However, BART is different. The one thing people are scared of is “eye contact.”
There are many Indian faces…but one catches my eye.
He is dark with a broom like moustache, which would have made any South Indian actor proud. He wore a bright colored woolen band headband, presumably to protect him from the autumn wind. He was sitting in the second row on the other side and was leaning far ahead. It suddenly dawned on me that he was doing so…in order to get a better view of the Newspaper being read by the commuter in front of him. The Chinese woman oblivious to this fact kept turning the pages, an obvious skimmer of headlines. I remembered those times in Mysore-Bangalore trains when it was okay to borrow the newspaper, which your co-passenger bought and then read it in great detail. I don’t think it ever occurred to that guy that he was doing something, which many people might have considered rude. He would frown if she turned the pages too quickly. He would sometimes lisp the words that he was reading.
I do not why, but I found this amusing incident very touching.
Incident 2: what to do…we are like this only!
For people who love leisure, traveling and breathtaking views, Amtrak’s California Zephyr is a wonderful option. Since my parents were here for a visit, we thought that this would be the ideal way to start our east coast trip. This train takes 2.5 days from Emeryville, California to Chicago, Illinois.
This train travels through the breadth of America giving a panoramic view of the beauty of this great land. There is a lounge car made of glass, which is available in the train for those of us who would prefer to enjoy these spectacular views. However, since the seats are limited, one has to make haste to go occupy those seats. Years of training in Bangalore didn’t go waste. Everyday we were able to occupy seats in the lounge.
You won’t find many Indians on these trains. May be the idea of train journeys reminds them too much of home.
The second day, while we were drinking in the beauty of Utah, exclaiming ever so often “sakkat agi ide alwa!” (“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”) a fellow passenger stopped and inquired “Neevu Kannadadavra?”(“Are you kannadigas?”). We nodded enthusiastically and thus ensued an half hour conversation wherein he went on to tell us about his love for train travels and his wife’s dislike for it; how long he has stayed in US; his native place being Mangalore yada..yada…
They were the only other Indians in the train. His joy in finding fellows Kannadigas on this train was pretty obvious. But what struck me most was that he kept conversing in English even when we replied in Kannada. When he had addressed us, he had done so in flawless Kannada. Somehow he reminded me of those guys who come and talk to girls in English as talking in Kannada was considered unfashionable. Maybe its part of being a kannadiga (at least for a sizeable %age)…this unwillingness to converse in our mother tongue. What to do, we are like this only!
Incident-3: Love stories and cry babies
In Fremont there is a theatre called Naz-8.If you ever tire of watching Hindi movies in 15 parts on Youtube, you can catch all your favorite movies in Naz 8. It’s the real Indian experience. The theater is a dark dingy place, which also sells overpriced samosa and burnt tea. I am of the firm belief that people should watch Bollywood films in the theater… at least the big budget ones. You need the right atmosphere to enjoy such a movie.
Recently we went to watch Delhi6. It was a spur of the moment thing and we got there just as the movie was about to begin. The promos of this movie looked very promising. I think if a movie has classy lyrics…the movie itself can’t be so bad (there are many exceptions to this rule, of course).
Everybody had great expectations from this movie. We made our way in the dark and seated ourselves.
The movie began. The movie was about the homecoming of this American born Indian who falls in love with the old world charm of Delhi. The first few minutes when they showed Delhi…a wave of nostalgia hit me. I had tears streaming down my cheeks as I watched traffic jams, web of electric wires, and the riot of colors on the screen. A part of me was wondering why I was getting so sentimental when I don’t know Delhi all that well. But then…the things Indians complain, cherish and feel nostalgic about are the same-traffic jams, corrupt police officers, blind belief and the impertinence which is such a part of the love people shower on you …irrespective of whether its Delhi or Bangalore.
There is a trick I learnt to wipe my tears in a movie hall. First, scratch your nose and make a move as if you want to cup one of your cheeks to make yourself comfortable and then wipe the tears off in this process. This is done in hope that people behind you don’t figure out that you are a crybaby. As I started this complicated maneuver of wiping tears…I noticed that the girl beside was doing the exact same thing. I couldn’t help but be amused.
In the interval, while crappy ads about “desidentist” and “desigoldjewelry” were being projected people were excitedly talking about Delhi and Lodhi gardens and the unique allure of old Delhi. There is a storyline in the movie which talks about how Indians believe anything…however preposterous it might be…just to have something to talk about. It reminded me of my school days when there was a rumor of a Ghost who came knocking on your door. Every house in the neighborhood had this written on their doors “naale baa!” with a symbol of mooru naama. Roughly translated it means, “Come tomorrow.” The assumption is that the Ghost can read and is naive enough to think that you want him to visit the next day! Since every time the ghost would see the same message…it would return to haunt the tamarind tree…thinking it will visit you the next day! As a kid, I was disheartened, as my parents wouldn’t write this clever message on our door.
As I walked out of the theater, I saw many red-eyed faces and tear stained cheeks. The movie has garnered very bad reviews. Anyways…I did like the movie. Many people thought it was preachy. It might have been the air of nostalgia, the intensity of the feeling, which lurks below the screenplay or girl who sat crying beside me…missing the familiar sounds and smells of the place, she had once called home.
Anyways a movie which has a beautiful love song about a place…I simply cannot resist that.
Oye, why you don’t write more often, I say? One of your classic posts – had me laughing, nodding in recognition, and disagreeing. Not all at the same time. Also, so totally envious about the train trip you took – you need to write a whole series of posts about it.
I guess you have so much tolerance for Rakyesh Mehra…hmm and may be what we call crap appeals in a way to people who reside outside India…and this is precisely what Johars and Chopras discovered more than a decade ago!
And no clue why Kannadigas dont talk in Kannada…guys talking to girls in english is explainable to some extent…because two Kannadiga girls always conversing in english is a higher percentage than two Kannadiga guys talking in english…still thats no explanation for guys who respond in english even if the girl talks in kannada…may be its the “impressioning” thing
@bpsk,
Thanks! Writing often-is also one of my intentions..but there is this thing called laziness
You should definitely consider taking that train trip.Writing about that train trip is on my “have-to-do” list.
@Vasuki,
One man’s crap is another man’s content
The Incident 2 reminds me of the same situation I faced when I came to corporate world.Was hard to find kannada speaking people in karnataka itself and that too in Bangalore…..I just pacify myself “kaala kettoithu”
Btw good post:)
yes our trains specially the mails and passengers are not impersonal at all…they dont hesitate to ask any personal question…snootyness starts from a c coaches and becomes more and more in shatabdis…is it not?
Then really u should write a series on the amtrack journey…do u remember the faboulous sun rises?
kannadigas are like that He had that much bhashabhimana as to speak to u when he heard u speaking in kannada…God bless him!!!
@Pavan,
I see the point of talking in English in a corporate environment where there is too much diversity.Also,personally I am scared of “hangalla kaNaiah!” type language usage with colleagues
But you are right..it is rare to find people who are willing to speak kannada in Bangalore.
@anandarekha,
I really should write about that Amtrak trip.
So many people cry while watch movies. And boy! how much they hate to acknowledge it.
I remember that ‘naaLe baa’ ghost incident. And there was another one too – about a snake ghost taking rounds and leaving imprints on plants and leaves. Ha ha. That turned out to be a seasonal disease that afflicts the plants.
And kannadigas not speaking Kannada. Well, that has nothing to do with the US. One hop, skip and jump around Blore’s CBD will leave anyone disillusioned.
@Shilpa,
I have almost developed a cult status among people who know me when it comes to crying-whether it is sentimental movies…love songs…radio shows..or even a full moon.If I ever live up to sixty,I’m sure that I’ll just sit in a corner..and sob my eyes out.
The “naale baa” ghost was our fav topic during lunch-time in school.Each kid would let her imagination run wild when it came to the ghost’s appearance. Ah,the thrill of sitting under the big tree in our school and discussing the adventures of that ghost!
Kannaadigas and their quirks! what I find most annoying is the affected American accent(particularly around the choona places in M.G.Road and Brigade’s)..HaLL udrsbidaNa ansutte…
Delhi6 lacked depth in story-telling.., but I liked the parallel they draw with kaala bandar…..
@Vedu,
I think they planned to capture the breadth of experience that India has to offer and didn’t quite get it right..
It’s audacious when anyone attempts to make a movie about India because its such a difficult subject and our experiences are so personalized.
I don’t think it was a great movie.But I do recognize that the sincerity behind the effort and felt it was better than many of mindless movies which seem to make crores…