2 different people... 2 different experiences
Met the Russian in a bus. There is a bad American habit of telling your life story to whoever is seated next to you. If there is nobody, then catch the driver. Well, this Russian had caught that habit and I happened to be the unfortunate co-passenger by virtue of lifting my groceries off the adjacent seat. Didn't notice his overused clothes in the beginning...
"R u from India?"
"hmm"
"I am from Russia."
"hmm"
"You know.. Russia, India.. best friends"
"hmm"(soo...)
(pause)
"I always wonder why Russia never introduced communism in India"
"hmm? it would not work in India" (im not a very big fan of communism)
"Why not? It has worked in China! See, China is so successful"
"That doesn't mean it'll work for india too" (Why am I arguing with this guy?)
"Why not?"
"India is different."(end of topic hopefully)
(pause)
"R u a student at the university?"
"hmm"
"Even I work at the university!!"
"hmm" (ok. so?)
"What is your field?"
"engineering"
"So you work in those _____" ( something in civil or electrical.. i couldn't figure out with his accent)
"no" (Just stop asking questions)
"Oh so you dont work in those big companies."
"no"
"So you just take care of the wiring in the building.. its not mainly electronics"
"hmm?" (he thinks im studying here to be an electrician!!)
"Actually I'm working on a project here..on reversible fuel."
"hmm"(ok he just spoke something in Russian probably which I didn't understand)
"You know.. gear box? The gears when they move.."
"No, I dont know"
"combustion? You know combustion? Hydrogen oxygen come together... and then I separate it! I get hydrogen oxygen back and they come together again..."
"hmm" (why isn't my stop coming???)
"ah I dont think you must have studied all that"
"hmm"( finally he gets the point! im not interested!)
the american
Lady(Land-lady) named Lucy whom we had approached in desperation for a house.
"Hiiii"
"Hiiiii"
"So you girls from India?"
"Yes"
"Great to meet you!I'd really like to have some nice people in my apartment after the current ones"
"Come on in.. i'll show you the house... i'm sorry im in a hurry.. i left Zoe in the car (r heads turn towards the car)... Thats my dog zoe" (right...americans love their dogs)
After knocking a few times she opens the door(landlords apparently have that right here during apartment showings)
"Anybody home?"
some guy comes forward.. even he speaks broken english
"who r u?"
that guy: "Im ____'s friend"
"Girls, this apartment looks really dirty right now (we can see that), but I promise you all this will go ( with special hand effects)... (to that guy) Tell ____ this apartment is DIRTY, this apartment has to be CLEAN, I want it CLEANED, this is not GOOD. Girls, I know it doesnt look really good, but this is a great house and you just need to use your imagination.. do you know what that word means?"
(Dumbstruck)"Offcourse!"(where does she think we r from?) Come on girls, I'll show you round the apartment.. blah blah"
Later outside..
"So what do you think? The apartment is really beautiful and you just need to use a bit of your creativity.. ah i guess you know what that word means..let me get zoe out of the car" (right.. priority no 1 is zoe)
"So now.. how do we go about the rent? (To me) Can you hold the leash for a minute?..I never had ne tenants from India, I dont even know what language you speak at home.. is it hindi...no? See I dont even know that much! Zoe come back!...You must be thinking I'm the biggest fool in the world..Here so i have the forms.. I know you are all nice girls... Zoe!!wats ur name? Im sorry I didnt get it first time... blah blah (all this while Im holding zoe by the leash)
Let me get my blackberry (she loved to flaunt it) and then we can fix out next appointment. Here, is this time ok? So im going to write both your names there, can you spell it out for me? Im the biggest idiot, I dont even know spellings you'll think."
"Pranjali"
"Branjali?"
"P"
"B?"
"P as in pen"
"Ben?"
"P as in parrot"
"Ohh P!"
At the end.. "ohh you r still holding on to zoe, I forgot bout it, see im so stupid!"
We didnt take that apartment.
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