Panoramic View of the Great Salt Lake

Soppamma

Vegetable vendor (courtesy: web)

"Ammaaavreeeee.., soppuuuuuuuuuuu" (Madam..., Do you need 'soppu'?) - was the usual question from the gate by our Soppamma. Before I move ahead with the story, what is 'soppu' called in English? Category of leaves which are edible is called 'soppu' in Kannada - coriander, spinach, mint, etc. This Soppamma is the lady who sold 'edible leaves' to us every week. Till date, I don't know her real name! She was so reliable that we used to wait for her and not buy these leaves elsewhere. She being poor, mom always treated her for any illness. Mom finally became Soppamma's family doctor after taking care of Soppamma's daughter during her pregnancy.

I really appreciate the bonding that exists between such people in India. Customer-seller bonding grows much deeper than usually thought. This blog is to all those street sellers who used to sell us good stuff.

Vegetable vendor:
This was way back in 1988 when our vegetable vendor used to come home with her daughter twice or thrice a week. My eyes fill with the picture of she carrying a doubly huge basket on her head and her small daughter carrying the 'appendix' (like green chilies, coriander, mint, ginder, spinach) version. Her basket was so huge that it was customer's obligation to lift and place it on her head once purchase is done. We changed houses miles apart. Even then, she used to walk all the way to sell vegetables. Her punchline..."Ammaaavraaaaa, kaipalle reeeeeeeeeee" (Madam, vegetables...).

Aapus Mango vendor:
Mango season has to be linked with rain. Recollecting this guy, I imagine sun just out after a heavy downpour during school's Summer holidays. He used to come little drenched always. Carrying mango baskets was not a good idea as far as this vendor was concerned. He had some brains to convert a chair to a cart! He had put small wheels to a foldable steel chair - this way, he had two tiers to keep one basket on the seat and the other below it (minor adjustments done to chair). Selling these mangoes were not per Kg (as in Bangalore), but, per mango. 30-50 rupees a dozen depending on size and quality. His punchline, "appuuus maavinhannuuoooiiii"

'kadlepuri' vendor:
We usually bought kadlepuri (white plain puffed rice/churmuri) on the streets only. In Hubli, it was called 'churmuri' and in Bangalore, 'kadlepuri'. There were two varieties - thick-crispy one and thin-hollow one and we always preferred the former. The latter one had no brands usually, while the thick-crispy one had a branding to it. If you are in Hubli, call that "Belgaum churmuri"; if you are in Bangalore, call it "Mysore kadlepuri". It is always the variety of the 'other' city! Don't know what they really called that in Belgaum and Mysore though :). Hubli vendor's punchline - "Belgaum saadha churmuuurriiiiiaaaa". Bangalore vendor's punchline - 'kadlepuriiiiiiii' (in a monotonic note).

'apple tomato' vendor:
What??? Apple tomato??? This is what every morning tomato vendor shouted - "apple tomaaaaaaaaaato" - meaning - tomatoes are as red as apples!!! His only problem was, he ran fast and by the time we go near the gate, he is way far to return! His punchline - "apple tomaaaatooo" (quick, brisk and loud and 5 calls per minute).

Other street vendors included ice-cream vendors, candy vendors, 'haLeee paper', etc. I don't know if things are changing and these types of vendors vanishing away from the streets. May be, these forms of small businesses were less profitable and they have moved ahead to have permanent stalls/stores with better profits.

Theorem at midnight

Remember "Pythagoras Theorem"? At midnight, my wife and I started recollecting the theorem and started proving it!
Can you prove it without looking at google or doing any searches?
For answers, look here

Oldest 'mosaru'

In India, there is a tradition of making curd at home. I was just thinking, can we determine the age of that culture? It may be that atleast one curd-culture in one of the homes could be as old as 20 years! It is always a usual task at homes everyday to put a pinch of old curd to new milk to allow for fermentation. Next day, that new milk would have been converted to new, wonderful, and delicious curd.

Why am I talking about curd? That is because, my wife doesn't like the so called 'yogurt' available in stores. She prefers to make curd at home and she has continued doing that for a month or so now by adding that process into her cooking agenda daily.

Few minutes ago, we finished our lunch with a wonderful 'seeme-badhnekai majjige huLi'. You can read recipe of 'majjige huLi' here.

Typical Indian outside India

There are so many things 'typical' of an Indian guy that it is just like creating an Abstract class "guy" and then adding more features to it! That was in Java sense.

Guy who is Indian outside India will typically be a Software Engineer in his early 20s. He will think that landing outside India was his most important dream in life. With a typical Indian accent, he will manage his first few days trying to grasp the accent which he is not used to.

Let me give this guy a name - Rahul? Ravi? no no. This is too much of real names! Let me keep, Babu - Something like "Babuji... " or "brother". Here starts the story of Babu who is 23 landed in US in the grand place of California.

As I told already, his first dream of life is achieved. Now, more dreams on his way! His next plans will be to work hard and hard, and, roam around places with rented cars and sharing that with all his friends. Parents would have said, "Don't spend too much... save and come back after the project." He will follow that. After few days, he is bored of sharing the house with 4 people. He wants only 1 room-mate. So, Babu moves to a new apartment. One year passes.

Babu's project is going good and he has now got used to the accent. He now knows the restaurants to go, malls to shop, places to visit, etc. Basically, he has got used to US life. Only thing he might be missing is a 'friend'. Just then starts his new dream - he needs a true friend in his life. He is 25 man! Typical Indian you see..., so, no running behind girls or anything of that sort. All he feels is, "hope my parents find a good girl for me..." With lot of confusion and decision making, he is finally ready to visit India for "interviews". When he just turns 26, he visits. He returns back to his work after a month. Babu now feels that he needs to grow more, mature more and have a job which can give him security for next 5 years. For a year, he pushes his latest dream. By 27, he is back to his dreams when his mom suggests a very nice girl! Within a month, Babu is engaged. Who is the girl? Girl is some girl who is working as Software Engineer in some company. Wedding over. Babu and biwi come to US and live a happy life.

Oh wait! That is not the end. This is just the beginning of future dreams - Greencard, kids, house, start a company, etc etc.

That was our Babu's story. I think, in a way, everybody's story is somewhat the same.