so here we are, in supposedly the greatest country in the world, United States of America. My first meeting with its people was quite an embrace they received me with. At the immigration check point , the lady was asking me questions I have been hearing all this time in movies n stuff and you never know that somebody is gonna throw all of them at you at once. I mean it when I say "at once". She started asking them like a machine "Sir ! Due to the recent events that have caused damaged to this land, I'm afraid I have to ask you some routine questions. ". I said "Yeah sure, why not". She gave me a pretty strange gaze for that reply. Then she continued "Sir, have you been to US before".I: "No".
She: "Sir !, Have you ever been involved in any such act that is unlawful against the constitution of any country".
Then she fired again: "Sir, are you carrying any weapons that can cause mass destruction or casualties"
I, pretty amazed at these replied: "Noooooww".
She, with a smile this time "Sir, is it your first time abroad"
I, with a relaxed face now: "Yeah" with a little blush on my cheeks.
Incidents like these are not rare with me as I presume myself to be rare in some natural ways that normally guys aren't so proud to be of. Each one of those who know me know it as well that this 6 feet 2 inch structure carries a set of a grey hair on his head. I try a lot to hide them by keeping them short, sometimes applying a hair color and the other times , by just wearing a winter cap no matter what weather it is.
So i was about to take a particular dish I love as my dessert and this catering lady standing right next to me looks at them(my grey hair) and develops a query in her mind. She ignores it after that but that was enough to give me an idea that my black truth(actually grey truth) has come to haunt me again. I am saying this because initially I just loved the way most Americans accepted me for what I am. I have made some good frnds here and none of them has ever pointed a finger at those unusually colored, unwanted parts of human body. But here this lady made me think of all that stuff that is very common in KGP. My favorite ones are:
"Buddhey ko jawani chha rahi hai"
"umar bachpan ki, baal pachpan k"
"budhau sale"
"dokar"
"dadaji"
"DADA"
So let's get back to the little conversation we are about to manipulate. So days went by and I knew that the day is not far off when she's gonna come with that same question again and make me feel uncomfortable. As i anticipated, the day arrived. After having an awesome sandwich with all the exotic layers in it, I stood up from my table and headed for that dessert section for my favorite dish "Baked Waffles". And while I was pouring the waffle solution into the machine, she approached me with the same problem of mechanics in a different frame of reference. She started:
she: "Hey dude !! have they always been like that or is it some side effect of too much sun or you just colored them that way ?
me: have what always been like what (as if i don't know what she's in mind :P)??"
she: "you know!! your grey hair .."
me: " :( yeah.. they have been like this for a while"
she: "you know you cud do smthing about that .. "
me: "oh really, and what miraculous thing that might be, ma'm! ??"
she: "i guess, put some dye on it or smthing..."
me: "wow , i had no idea they had these kinda things these days, so how do i apply it... do I take a shower first and then apply the color or do i just squeeze the paste all over my body.
She: "Don't talk stupid, you know what I'm saying"
me: "Who started ?"
She: "what ?"
me::"stupidity"
.
...more on this later... :P
