From India - Conversations

So as my faithful and not-so-faithful blog readers all know, I am currently in India, in a suburb of Delhi called Gurgaon. Thanks to Uncle Sam and his visa shenanigans, I won't be back before 24th Jan in the morning.

I had plans to write a regular diary of happenings in India but that didn't really work out. Laziness was stronger than the flesh and the spirit. So this is my lame effort to write at least one of a few posts...a conversation with some construction labourers near my house.

So...this afternoon I was hanging around a small market near my place, taking in the winter sun. Since there is no internal heating in Delhi, temperatures of 45 degrees or so are really, really cold because you have to spend the whole day in them. You really need to thaw out your bones in the sun once in a while.

Well, this is a usual Indian style local bazaar - highly congested with cycles, motorcycles, tractors and toyota camry's all mixed together. Amazing variety in the tiny shops....everything from American fast foods to desi stuff like aloo tikkis, gol gappas etc.

There is much construction going on near the market...mostly bungalows for people moving out of congested New Delhi into Gurgaon.

I was watching one such house being built...the labourers milling around, their kids and wives sitting around cooking in the distance. One of the guys passes close and says...

"Bhaiya-ji..." (hey mister - polite form, literally "brother")

Me: "Haan?" (yes?)

"Aap yahan ke hain?" (are you from here?)

Me: I'm confused how to respond..."Hmmm...haan...lekin bahar rehte hain" (yes...but i live abroad)

"Kahan?" (where?)

Me: "America"

A few other labourers gather around, looking curious. but not too much...desis staying abroad are frequently found in this area...

They are all smoking beedis (tobacco wrapped in betel leaves, no filter)

They sit down...village style squatting position, I try to do the same but it's too hard. I sit on some random bricks.

"Padte hain?" (are you studying?)

Me: "Nahin. Padte the. Ab kaam karte hain." (no. used to study, now i'm working)

"Kitni tak padhe?" (until which class did u study?)

Me: "Ph.D."

More guys gather. Murmurs of interest...no one knows what a phd is.

"Woh kya hai??" (what is that?)

I'm again confused. how do u explain phd to guys who have never been to primary school?

Me: "College ke kai saal baad bhi jab padte rehte hain...usko kehte hain" (when you keep studying way after college, then that is a phd)

"Arre baap re! Kya baat hai!" (good grief! that's amazing!)

"Kya padhe itna?" (what is it that you have studied so much?)

Now I'm really confused. How remote is particle physics from this place...

Me: "Vigyan. Jaise ki...har cheez kiski bani hui hai...dharti kahan se aai..yehi sab" (science. for example what everything is made of, where the world came from, things like that)

General laughter. These guys are thoroughly enjoying themselves now. Random kid runs into the group and starts laughing too...

"Matlab mitti-vitti...cement...eentein" (you mean dirt, like cement, bricks...)

Me: "Sab cheezen" (everything)

Another labourer enters the conversation:

"Bhaiya-ji...wahan sab gori hoti hain na?" (there are all these white girls there right?)

Me: "Kaphi hoti hain. Lekin sirf wohi nahin...cheeni, desi sab hoti hain. Pakistani bhi." (quite a few. but not just them...there are chinese, indian girls too. even pakistanis.)

"Mera beta gori ke saath shaadi karna chahta hai." (my son wants to marry a white woman)

Everyone starts grinning. I don't get it. How on earth did this guy's son meet her out here??

Me: "Kitna bara hai?" (how old is he?)

"Cheh saal" (six years)

Me: "Kaphi jaldi baat ban gayi..." (the matter has been settled rather early)

Everyone bursts into laughter. The random kid too...apparently he is the romeo...

"Usey cunnaut place mein ek gori ney chocolate di thi. Tabse dil mein yeh ichcha hai." (some white woman gave him a chocolate in connaught place [delhi's main marketplace, also tourist spot]. since then he has this desire.)

"Pata hai...samne waley bungley ke malik ki biwi gori hai. Swaydun se laya hai usey." (you know, the owner of the bungalow in front...his wife is white. he has brought her from sweden.)

I didn't realize the group of their wives nearby were overhearing the whole conversation. One woman - the kid's mother - sounding very pissed off says:

"Haan...jaroor gori ke saath shaadi karega! Saali maan uski sari zindagi roti pakati rahegi naa!! us gori ki saas...sara din gali deti hai usko. hindi mein." (yeah right, he is going to marry a white woman! then his fucking mother will have to cook rotis [for them] her whole life!! that white woman who stays there...her mother-in-law abuses her the whole day. in hindi though.)

Labourer is enjoying his wife's irritation. He says:

"Muskarati achcha hai wo..." (she [swedish girl] smiles very nicely...)

Wife: "Sara din bak bak..." (you just keep talking nonsense the whole day)

She is getting really pissed off. Starts standing up. Labourer is getting more than he bargained for. I ask for a beedi. Damn thing is really strong, but lights up my system.

Labourer wants to pacify his wife. But he is nervous and ends up asking me: "Bhaiya-ji...lekin desi ladki kaa maza to gori ke saath ho hi nahin sakta naa?" (but, the extra fun of having an indian girl...you can never have with a white woman right??) --- here "fun" is not innocent fun. Everyone laughs very loudly.

I decide to be neutral.

Me: "Maza to kahin bhi aa sakta hai..." (fun can be had with anyone...)

People laugh more. It's too much...all work has stopped. His wife is outraged by the conversation, comes and grabs the kid, drags him away by the hand.

She is muttering to herself: "Kumpooter sikhana hai enu. Gadhe kahin ke..." (we have to teach him computers. these men are donkeys...)

After that things kind of dispersed. I went home too after they showed some things about how they mix cement etc.