Veggie alien!

My status in US right now says 'resident alien'. I am that alien whose spotting is not seen as 'breaking news' by the natives here.

The past couple of months have been educating in every way possible. Though I knew few of them, out of practice I used the Indian words( thankfully with Indian borns) and got the American version for it in the reply and I silently said 'Okaaaaaay!'
Me : "Oh she is 8 year old? so she is in 3rd standard?"
She : "No in 2nd grade"
Me : "Okaaaaaaaaaaay!"

When I was watching some car driving tutorial videos...dont ask me shouldnt car driving be learnt practically? I will explain it some other time,aaah soo when I was watching those videos I wondered what 'step on the gas' meant..only to clarify later that it means 'accelerate'. Thankfully there is no three word translation to STOP, its quicker to stop the vehicle with a one word than three words which would take 2 more seconds for me to realise what it is. .....Adding to the things that differ are....you drive on your right, petrol is gas, diesel is fuel, engine is filled up with gallons and not litre (liter in American english).In the time when my granny has finally started using kms and kgs, I have switched to using miles and pounds.

She : "Oh you find time to have a bath? I just have a shower everyday"
Me : "Oh...ha ha..." I did smile but my brain was thinking - what the hell is the difference!!! In case you are as ignorant as me, then let me save you a google hit. Bath is when you sit in the tub and clean yourself, and shower is when you stand and do the same job.
Me and You : "Okaaaaaay!"

I thank my stars that I knew earlier that a brinjal is called an eggplant here.I can imagine myself standing in the store inspecting brinjal and telling myself  "Looks like brinjal...but 'egg'plant?". My brain would have been stunned to realise that Okhra actually means ladies finger and is not a city name. I am sure this would be the case if I had landed here 10 years back or if I had no exposure to this world. I am sure a person from here would face difficulties back in India too. Imagine someone saying 'ondu Bhel puri to-go' instead of 'ondu Bhel puri parcel" :).

In a nutshell, I am still learning....if you have had any 'Okaaaay' moments, then warn me about it before I find out myself!

Like being an alien was not challenging enough, I am a veggie too. Unlike the bachelors who yearn for ghar ka khana, me and my husband look forward to eating something different. (Lets not debate if thats due to my culinary skills). So on one particular occasion, we set out for a restaurant which claimed to have 5 different cuisines. What we ordered and got is in the pic above. The one that you see in the far end of the snap is the eternal veggie appetizer- Veggie Spring Rolls. For our lunch we ordered a Japanese Rice and a Korean Rice. And what did we have on table? Two exact looking dishes. Even the 'spot the difference' pics in newspapers have 6 differences, this had only 2! One was ordered with Tofu..so visual difference one. Second one was that they were served in dishes of different shapes-oval and round. Thats all!!! Yes taste wise one was sweet and the other not sweet (they called it spicy on the menu though). Being a veggie is not so good here :(.

So you know my unofficial status....I am a veggie alien!

This post is dedicated to my near to 'Idol' :)

While scribbling replies on Autograph/Slam Book questions in school/college I dont think I seriously meant the names I gave against 'My Idols' section. I definitely admired them....but surely not like Idol or anything.

Many of you have Idols....and they are the ones you adore, as that is what you want to be;you would love to be;you aspire to be...you dream to be.

People idolised are not always super famous.....it could be someone in our family.....someone in our friends list...anybody....and in my case she came from a newspaper column she had penned down...typed down whatever.

As a teenager, I fell easily to have idols changing every day....sometime it would be my teacher, sometimes Nelson Mandela, Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Sachin Tendulkar...

I remember my dad asking me once, "Who is your Idol?"...I said "Abdul Kalaam".

He said.."Wow...so what all do you know about him?" I told him all that I knew from being the current president of India at that time to the books he has written and some other random stuff. He demanded to know more. I told him that was all I knew. He said "that is what everyone in general knows". I felt...."how am I suppose to know anything else?"

I always wondered why a fan was heartbroken when Hrithik Roshan or Karishma Kapor was married. I would think the news that people broke their Television sets in Pakistan when their cricket team lost against India was totally fake....how can someone go to that extent? News that few died of heat attack when their favourite political leader died was a shock to me!

I never understood what made a fan frame his handkerchief which had Amitabh Bachchan's autograph on it.How could people build a temple for an actress? How can some shed crores to just get Bradman's bat in an auction? Now I know they are passionate about them....they really Idolise them.

One person who came close to being 'Idol' for me is probably Rachna Bisht Rawat. When there is a newspaper in front of me, the first thing I have been picking from ever since I remember is the supplement. It was in 2008, the month of February. All things on TV, paper, radio all talked about valentine's day. Being a 'not so romantic' person, the topic of love being discussed so much was getting annoying...some things seemed stupid...and it was wonders that I read this article from Rachna on a Sunday Herald (supplement of Deccan Herald).It was definitely on this topic, but the take was 'hatke'. I loved it...I wanted more. I googled for her name to find out more about her, with not much luck.

I even stuck to this newspaper for Sunday edition when we changed our newspaper just to make sure I did not miss her article when it appeared. I enjoyed reading every article of hers. Her writing was not predictable, her writing did not appear made up, it was not preaching. It had right amount of emotions....her writings were simple, crisp and real.She was all that I wanted to be as a writer....She was more than that too...

I adored her so much that I did not forget to google her name every now and then....and I wasnt finding anything....yes I was passionate about her writing...I wanted to know all about her...now I know she is getting closer to being my 'Idol'.

Just a few days back, I searched for her name again and found her website....there was no limit to my happiness. I was smiling throughout....I searched for words to tell her how much I loved her, then gave up that there is no other way than saying it in simple words...'I love what you write'. I sent her a message through her website and checked my mailbox every now and then to see if she replied. She had not. Did not even realise she could be in a different time zone than mine. I was sure she was busy, but was really hoping and praying she would respond to this fan of hers.

Saw her mail the next morning...I just cant explain the joy I had....I read and read and read those 6 lines she had written...just for me...I am feeling soo soo happy. I really love her writings...I really do...

Make time and go through her website....I hope you enjoy her writing too. Her website is :

http://www.rachnabisht.com

Do let me know what you thought about my favourite writer!