Sunday, October 18, 2015

Two things that made me do a double-take

So you think that I'm exaggerating, huh, when I say that living in the Bay Area is like living in India? Yesterday, in the Target parking lot, I saw a car, with the words "Ati vega, Tithi Bega*" written on its bumper - in Kannada. I didn't miss autorickshaws at all :D

*Loosely translated, it means "Excess speed (on the road) will lead to your funeral rites being performed early."

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I had been to a social gathering last evening, where I was given the ele-adike (betel leaves and nuts) and arishina-kunkuma (turmeric-vermillion) and fruits. But when I laid it all out after I came home, something looked very off. And then I realized. The dakshine (a token amount of money) given to me along with all that, was a dollar. If it had been a rupee coin or note, I wouldn't have felt that anything was amiss!

3 comments:

Shachi said...

I've learnt more about non-Gujjus Indians, their cuisine, rituals, how they celebrate various festivals, etc over here than back home. I love that aspect.

But what I also see is that our community is largely racist....Groupism is worse among Indians.

Anu said...

Rupee coin? Do they actually even exist anymore? When I went this year I found 10 rupee coins! My mom insisted on my on giving my aunts something for the festive season, apparently Rs.500 no longer cuts it - it had to be Rs. 1000 now!!! Talk about inflation!

Srividhya G said...

Oh yeah Bay is pretty much MiniIndia only. I see hindi/telugu/tamil ads in Bay Area Transit buses and what not?

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