Nepali.. Not Nepali??

I was flying to Delhi once, in 2008, I think. During the emigration checking, the security person said “Madam, bag kholiye zara” (Open you bag). I opened my bag. All was well, except for some medicine that I had that he was suspicious about. After convincing himself it was not some sort of addictive drug, he asked for my passport. And when he looked at it, he said, “Oho, didi ta Nepali po hunu hundo rahecha. Dekhdaina hai didi”. (Ohh, sister you are a Nepali, you don’t look like it!). I said... “Yeah, I know”.

During the Delhi immigration checking, the guy stared at my passport for a while, looked at me, looked back at the passport, again , as expected, gazed at me and said, “ohh, to aap Nepal se hi hain? Lagti nahi hai bilkul bhi, kya bas Nepali passport hai, ya udhar hi settled hain” (Ohh, so are you really from Nepal? You don’t look like it. Do you just have a Nepali passport or you have always lived there?) All I said was, “Yeah, I know, I am settled there”.

Now these incidents are not at all rare. Every time I introduce myself as a Nepali to some Indian, I get to hear, “You don’t look like it” and every time I introduce myself to someone who’s not an Indian, it is an assumption on their part that I am an Indian unless I clearly specify that I am from Nepal, yeah, that country where there is Everest. No contribution of mine as such, but an easy introduction.

But sometimes I get lazy, to take the effort and explain that I am in fact a Nepali and not an Indian. There can be two scenarios though. There are some strangers who would, for some reason, want to know where I am from. They ask me confidently “You are from India, right”. Take it as my politeness that I don’t want to negate their wisely made assumption regarding where I belong OR my laziness, I just tend to give a smile and say “Yes”. And when some go a bit further, “where exactly from India?” For some reason, I say “Delhi”. It’s convenient, I suppose.

And the other scenario is simply the fact that I don’t want to let someone know where I am actually from. Now this is because of some childhood lessons given by my Dad which hit me at times “If some stranger gives you something, don’t eat it. Do not tell him where you are from, and do not tell him your name”. Yes, I do lie about my name as well, not cause I am a liar, but because of the childhood lessons. And for some reason, the name is Neha.

Honestly, I don't mind any part of it. It's fun to be confusing. I know this will go on. I know I will be asked this question a number of times more. All I need to do is make sure I don't get influenced by it and start thinking in Hindi!

impatience

kasto impatience ho yo...

blog ma euta poora sentence lekhne ni patience chaina
favourite novel ko euta page padhne patience chaina
patience chaina aaja bholi khana enjoy garera khane, walk ma jaane
tracy chapman ko man pardo ganna sunne samma pani patience chaina
bihana bhaye raati parkhine, raati bhaye bihani parkhine
time bitdai cha bhanera ho ki, time nai bitena bhanera ho, impatience cha..

kasto impatience ho yo..kasto restlessness..

Thanksgiving - 2010

4 years ago, a friend of mine asked me , "Where do you want to be 10 years from now?" My answer was, "in a cold cold place". Well, I had meant it literally. I was in Allahabad (India) then. It must have been very very hot that day, usual for Allahabad during summers. And hence, at that time I wanted nothing, but to be in a cold place, be it anywhere!

And today I am in a cold place, again, literally. And this cold place saw its first snowfall of the year, on Thanksgiving. It really is a perfect combination, for me, at least. It was sort of a reminder saying "Here...this is what you had wished for. And today, don't forget to be thankful for having what you had wished for."

It surprises me sometimes how we forget to be thankful for all the things that we have, the same things that we had once wished for. We get used to the good things. We get used to bad things as well. But we never really forget to complain. When we get used to good things, we generally do forget to look at those once in a while and say, "Thanks".

Thanksgiving is one day that celebrates all relationships. It celebrates the togetherness that you have experienced through your thick and thin. Today is a reminder for you to thank your near and dear ones, if you have forgotten, for their presence in your life.

I would like to thank for having what I had randomly wished for, and for reminding me to go over all the things which I might have forgotten to give credit.

It does really make your day. Do try it!

Happy Thanksgiving to All..

The more you dislike failure, the more you tend to fail because that's when you stop trying to succeed

...

Soul O' Soul
Wanders all along
Finds rest a burden
Sings today, the old song
Soul O' Soul Wanders all along

Lives in yesterday
And dreams of tomorrow
Feels the healed pain
Won't let go of sorrow
Soul O' Soul Wanders all along

So ignorant it is
Misses the sunshine today
the sound of music,
and the joy it could bring
Stay a while, soul O' soul
Live a little while, before wandering along

Today..

7:30 am: "It's already 7:30!! Ohh..office again...another boring day..It's so difficult to wake up..Life's so difficult..Lemme sleep for another 5 minutes".

8:30 am: At office..

8:30-5-30: Pretending to work..

5:30: "Yay...It's Friday".

Walk from office to home: 20 minutes :Mumbling songs, thinking how good this day is, making plans for the evening, I was coming back from the office.

Just when I crossed the railway crossing, I saw an old man in a bike for disabled people. He had a dog, Jake. The first thing that came to my mind was I need to cross the road to go ahead, as there is a dog and the footpath is too narrow for me to go ahead without fearing the dog (Stupid!! I know). I thought the old man had just stopped for some reason. Didn't really bother to think more than that.

I crossed the road. And moved ahead. Just out of curiosity, I looked back. I saw the old man looking at me, with an expression I can't define in words. It was a mixture of helplessness, disappointment, hope and a great relief after he looked at me (there was no one around , just a few cars passing by). With a big sigh, he said...'OHHHH.. Do you have a mobile phone? Both the tyres are punctured. I can't move.' I replied that I had a mobile phone and crossed the road again to help him. He said 'I can't imagine this. It's horrible. Would you mind if I made a call? My wife must be on her way.' "No problem" I said. '01453... , Margaret.. Her name is Margaret'. Just as he said that, we could see an old lady at a distance who was getting a wheelchair. 'There she is, she's here'. This was a greater sigh of relief than before.


She said as she approached 'Ohh my Lord.. It's horrible. I don't believe this. How did this happen? How will we get this bike home?' The old man replied 'I don't know. I can't move. What do I do? I can't move...'(Again, expression which I can never describe in words).

He got on the wheelchair by himself. We tried to see if we could push the bike back home (around 100 meteres). But it was really heavy and Margaret said she would go back and ask one of her neighbors for the pump and pump it up so that they could move it back to the house, at least.

We started moving. Margaret was pushing the wheelchair, still deeply disappointed on what was happpening, David (the old man) was going through the same feelings and still holding on to Jake. I was following them till we parted ways. That was the end of today.

Here's..

To the lost loves, and the gains I had from them..

To the dark nights, and the dawns they brought..

To the friends turned foes, to the fights we fought..

To the longest of roads, creating the shortest journeys of all ..

To the heat and the cold, and the same warmth they sought..

To the worst of me, in you the best which brought..

To everything that pinches hearts.. and makes us feel alive..

Here's to you and me.. Here's to love and laughter...

It'll be true as long as us, and not a single minute after..