Saaar change illa, 10 rupees idre nodi

Its about time i got out of my lazy cocoon and wrote new blog post..I have been keeping up my illustrious reputation of starting something with all the enthusiasm in the world and then losing it in between..

Its the end of another semester...siggghhhhh...feels like it just zoomed past me...I cant believe il be graduating next semester...zoooooommm.....siggghhhh...
This time around, i'm bouncing of the walls....India here i come!!! yaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!! A week to go...but the excitement is flowing through me already...time to pack my bags, make a list of all the things i want to eat and head off, half the way across the globe, an agonizing day of travel....Back to Bangalore...YYYAAAAAAAAAY!!

The first thing i would be doing (any student whos going back home would be doing), is making a list of all the things i want to eat, in all the right places....the masala dosas at vidhyarthi bahavan, the churmuri from all the dingy carts next to the gutter, pani puri from corner of sriraj lassi bar, mango lassi from lassi park...(i better get some diarrhea pills)...etc etc..blah blah yada yada...
Making this long list, made me realise, there are a lot of things that people in India take for granted...Some things are just so easily available and used without realising its true value..

First i think we totally underestimate our skills in mental mathematics... All those tables drilled into our heads during childhood actually seem to work wonders today... Simple addition and subtraction, which would seem so trivial to us, is not actually simple in this part of the world..

I would suggest the desis in America to try this...go to a McDonald's...one which is away from downtown, an isolated one, buy something and pay in cash...If the bill runs up to say $1.42, pay the cashier $5.42...well, simple right? u wudnt want to have all that loose change in your pocket..

Lo and Behold, you will see the cashier's face turn from confusion to bewilderment to utter helplessness..they wudnt even have an idea as to what all the extra money is for. :) :)
Well, cmin back to India, your local vegetable gaadi guy, who hasn't studied anything all his life, will know his basic math...he instantly calculates the price according to the weight of the veggies, sums up the total purchase, all this while trying to haggling over the price with my mom!! U buy stuff for 60 bucks, hand him 100 rupees, he will promptly say "saar, change illa, ten rupees idre nodi, 50 kodtini"..Mental maths seems to be hardwired into the system, so much so that u know the answer instinctively...

No offence to the Americans here, there is the "clever" lot who actually decide to to use the cash register, type in 5.42, the display spits out the answer and he returns four dollar bills..Just for pure fun, i sometimes hand them 20.42, just to look at that precious expression :) :)
I take back all the curses to my primary school math teacher..rote memory rocks!!!!!!

Second, I would have to say chow-chow bath...for those unfamiliar with the term, its an exqusite combo of upma and kesaribath...nowhere else in the world, has there been a perfect fusion of two opposite flavours, a blend of contrasting tastes, built to satisfy all the tastebuds at the same time. Well, think i'm praising it too much?? try blending a spicy and a sweet flavour..maybe u shud try eating vanilla ice cream with mango pickle (which actually tastes good by the way)..it is impossible to get the same magical blend of flavours

Third, i would like to throw in an assortment of things like tender coconuts, sapota milkshake (thers 1 of those ganesh juice centres in almost every road in bangalore now!!!), sugarcane juice, yummy jackfruit...some little pleasures of life that are missing in US of A...

In five days, it will good to get smacked by dust in face, cough a little, breathe the fresh polluted air......siggghhh......Bangalore=Bliss