Its actually taking me time to get adjusted. The very idea of people driving with caution, not squeezing their vehicles into every possible nook and cranny and not screaming abuses at every possible moment is difficult. Gurgaon has its own charms…
I arrive at the guest house and I am attacked by an onslaught of Bengali from everywhere. As I am beginning to discover it is not very hard and you can guess the basics if the person on other end goes slow with it. I share my room with somebody who introduced himself as “myself Mr Apoorba Das”. That at least cleared any lingering doubts about his gender if any in the minds of those who had the pleasure of being introduced by him. He gets tremendously excited on hearing I am mallu. He’s been apparently to Cochin and thereabouts and shares his love for mallu sea food and cuisine.
“Man what great fish man you have (As if we had something to do with it..). Amazing, and what tasty food.”
“I tell you nearly as good a Bongla cooking (I am supposed to be grateful to him for raising us minions mallus to the same level) and the Prawn curry is amazing man”
Thanks to the good show put forward by Mallu fishes I have the esteemed friendship of Mr. Apoorba. He assures me that h will show me around Salt Lake.
I like the colony, it reminds me of Prabhat or Boat club road in Pune and is systematically planned. Rows of rowhouses and is really a quiet neighborhood. I am told it’s one of the posh areas in Cal. The whole of Salt lake is shaped like a regular octagon (some polygon at least) with regular public transport and neat tidy streets. Bang in the middle of all this is a giant Central Park which according to a hyperventilating Apoorba is apparently a lover’s spot.
Apoorba suggests going over and taking in some ‘sights’. I wriggle out of it. The idea of roaming around with a rotund ogling Panda is something I plan to avoid. He told me that Kolkata is the cheapest Metro for any foodie, and quoted plain and buttered chapatti prices for 6-7 major cities as comparison to seal the deal. One thing you have to give him is that he is a walking encyclopedia of Restaurant prices and modestly admits that he has traveled quite a bit.
He is a new joinee and plans to move on to a flat he has located. Having nothing better to do I help him shift his stuff while getting a thorough knowledge about the comparative auto rates across the many cities Apoorba had a chance set his foot in. This guy is special.
He extends a open invite to join him in his flat if I decide to make Kolkata permanent base and tells me that he normally doesn’t extend that kind of courtesy to everybody.
He then recounts how he has genocide plans for Sindhis if he has his way. “Sindi aur Saanp mile raste mein to pehle Sindhi ko maro”. Some guy apparently wiped 100 bucks from him. Doing this to someone who remembers chapatti prices throughout the length and breadth of this country is definitely not wise.
But Mallus are honest and hardworking in his experience and almost as good as inscrutable bongs and the special variety ones found in Asansol area. I avoid telling him that the miniature Sandalwood Ganesha worth a bargain price of 2000 bucks that he brought in Trivandrum is worth couple 100 bucks really. But he seems enamored with mallus (next only to Kannadigas in his preference list). Mallu fishes are really something. Maybe I should try them too…
Despite all his vices, that guy is really nice. Tomorrow he will move on completely… I finally will be able to sink my teeth into the novels I lugged into Kolkata I guess….
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