"Speak in hindi!!"

So...I was sitting in the auto today waiting to go to South City and there were only 3 people, and we were waiting on a 4th person. The other 2 people (a guy and I think his girlfriend?) had apparently been waiting for about 15 minutes for the auto to go. I get in and then this is how the conversation went (it was in bangla so this is a translation!)

Guy : "Do we have to wait all day to go?"
Autowallah : "We are waiting for 1 more person. This is how it normally goes."
The guy muttered some comment I didn't catch.
Autowallah : "Well, if it was just you 2 on a fared auto then you would have been gone already"

HAHAHA!

So then his girlfriend said to him, "Well, if you ask stupid questions you'll get stupid answers. She's laughing."
Me: "Auto's never go anywhere unless they have 4 passengers, even the ones from Gariahat."

Girlfriend (as she's feeding him a bite of noodles) : "You are like all other men, you are always eating!"
Boy : "Speak in hindi!"
Me : "Why? I can understand Hindi. And bangla."

LOL Love the surprised look on their face.

Then we had the normal conversation of why I was here, and how long I had been here for.

Seriously, made my day!!!

Surprises in India

Yesterday I had gone out to pick up a snack for DH and I, so I took a rickshaw from our house to the closest Subway. The fare is Rs 15 (33 cents or so) and so off we went. Well...I had gotten some 10 rupee coins (instead of bills) the other day so I had given the rickshaw wallah 5 coins, a 10 rupee coin, 2 2 rupee coins, and a 1 rupee coin. He looked at the amount of coins, and started to say, "dekhun...(look...)" when I said, "Dada, dekhun, ekta dosh-ta taka kuchro achhe. (Dada, look there is a 10 rupee coin)" to which he replied, "oh, achchha! (oh, ok...)" and started laughing. Apparently he had never heard or seen a 10 rupee coin (I think?) and no idea that is what I had given him and then I went on my way.

Next...I crossed the street and got the subs we wanted. :-) Then, I flagged down an auto rickshaw, because the intersection was quite congested and I didn't want to have to walk across it, and asked him "opar-e jabe? (will go you above? above meaning to the other side of the crossing) and to which he replied yes. So I get in the auto. The fare is 4 rupees (around 10 cents) and when I tried to give him a 10 rupee note he just waved his hand, I had assumed he meant to give it to him later, so again, when we crossed and had stopped I tried again. This time he said, "Naa, thak, thak (No, leave it, leave it)"

Never before have I had someone not take the fare, even if it is only Rs 4. I was surprised and shocked, and went on my way to come back home. :-)

Oh, and our cook has been absent the last 2 nights (and like 3 or 4 days before that...) because she got hit by a bus! At least she is ok, and is not more seriously injured. :-) This also means DH has to cook for me...or we order in (LOL) or his sister or mother cook, because I only know how to make maggi, toast, eggs, and tea.

India made me smile yesterday! Wait, thats not right, a country can't do that! :-)

Yesterday I had gone out to run some errands. I had to get my hair cut, and pick up a few things for DH.

Well, at the salon (the same one I have normally gone to for like the last 3 months...) I had the same 2 girls that took care of me last time. There is a trained professional (who does the actual cutting / eyebrow threading) and her helper (she holds the hair up and does the little jobs...) who take care of each customer. Well, this time they remember me, and they go on jabbering in bangla. No biggie, I just sit and listen and they thread my eyebrows first. Then the fun starts.

The trained girl starts asking me if I wear sindoor, and I say no. Then they ask me if I wear the shakha (which in Bengal, married women wear red and white bangles. The white bangle is beautifully crafted from conch while the red is made either of coral or lac. While the red and white ones are quite important as a symbol of matrimony, what is crucial is the loha or iron kada that is worn along with them. Some Bengalis get the loha gold-plated rather skillfully, giving it a more contemporary look). Then where I was from and then if I had been married long.

Then when I came home yesterday I had a auto-wallah who was irritable and yelling at some man on the street (I have no idea why...) and was just plain ornery. When one of my fellow passengers got down, she gave the driver a 10 rupee note, and the driver was rooting through his change, mumbling something, and so I gave him my 6 rupees, and then he gave the lady change. He looked back, and smiled and said, "thank you".


Then, when I got home, I went to take a rickshaw to my house and when I got to the stand, the rickshaw-wallah looked at me, and turned and hit the seat of his rickshaw, and said "bosun, bosun" (sit, sit in the polite form).

It made me smile and come home and tell DH about it. :-)

Last weekend and our accident

I wanna say it was Saturday, but it could have been Sunday, not the ones that just past, but the ones from before.

I don't remember the exact happenings, because the accident pushed everything else out of my mind.

I don't remember where we were coming from, or who we had been with, or any of that information.

I just remember driving down the road to go to our house and that it was night, and I was sitting with DH in the back-seat of the taxi.

All of a sudden there was this auto that sped in front of us, and the driver slammed on his brakes and we hit the auto. Well, the auto didn't stop, it didn't cause severe damage (well...that we could see...) and it kept going (without stopping). Then the driver and DH got out of the car, agreeing that the auto-wallah must have been drunk to assess the damage. Well, nobody was hurt, but the left headlight of the taxi was broken. Not major damage I was told, but enough that the driver would be having to pay for some damages out of his own pocket. I was shaken to say the least. We were almost home, so we continued home, and the driver admitted to DH that he was also shaken, so he was going to take the taxi back to the garage for the night and then go home.

That's all I remember...*sigh* I hate car accidents. At least nobody was hurt, and DH wasn't shaken and he was there! :-) All's well that ends well, right??