Domoshtik???

I just returned to Bangalore after an official trip to Faridabad. It is one of the most industrialized places in India and sometimes in the four long days I was there, I felt that the industries developed all alone, leaving the masses way behind. There were some things that I found interesting there.

1. Cricket equipment is dirt cheap compared to rates in Chennai and Bangalore - thanks to lesser transit costs from Jalandhar and Meerut where they are made.

2. Paneer Butter Masala is served for breakfast, lunch, brunch, tea, dinner and anything in between. Even more interesting is the size of a paneer piece in it. Easily beats a medimix soap.

3. Three star hotels have receptionists that own personal CNG driven cars and these are used as taxis for customer pick up and drop. The taxi that I used to reach Delhi airport was one such and I ended up paying 500 bucks to a cop on the border, besides the 700 I paid for the "taxi". I got the 500 from the hotel later, thank goodness.

4. The driver of this "taxi" was a Bengali and not surprisingly, had a thick Bengali accent in the Hindi he spoke. I asked him his name and he said "Orijit Bondhopadhyay" (Arijit Bannerjee). In reply, he asked me, "shaab! aapko domoshtik jaana hai?". I replied in the affirmative, without having understood in the least what he had asked. I realized that domoshtik = domestic (the airport) after I landed in Bangalore.

5. Haryanvi is not equal to Hindi, though many Haryanvis said people that knew Hindi would easily understand their language. Blatant fib. Maybe I don't know Hindi too.

6. It is f***** hot there. It is Chennai minus the humidity. That equals a war sword digging into your flesh. My first experience of a dry summer. Not memorable at all!!!

The rest were lost in the pangs of the blissful sleep I had back in Bengaluru...