Smiles afterall
When you smile at someone you do expect a smile back but at times it doesn't happen. Makes one sad :( But finally I not only got smiles back but kind words too.
I had the opportunity to travel and stay in another country. The city sadly was a small town more like a urban village. Tucked far away across the oceans I was hoping to get a glimpse of a different culture. But it was just like my country. The houses were alike in every respect except the shutters on windows and doors. Cooking on the electric stove and you having to dump the garbage on your own in the bin on the roadside was something different but I loved the ease.
I gorged on veggies, cheese and fruits. I behaved as if I never have eaten them. I bought them not from the supermarket but from a farmers market :) Suddenly I felt my life revolved around food :) Me being such a good customer, after a couple of days I befriended the vegetable vendor and then my smiles were returned. Well more than smiles we exchanged recipes and he found it so strange that I never touched meat. I shared my preparation with him and he gobbled everything. We became friends :) He always smiled and waved me.
The lady my neighbor oh before that they too dry clothes on clothesline like us and they have wooden clothes peg. Back to the lady our balconies faced each other and every time I used to dry my clothes she was there. After days of smiling one day she smiled back when she saw me putting out the jeans and hanging them by the bottom. She too did that for getting it dry quickly. :) Then we always chatted in our respective languages but it was fun. And I did understand her like she did.
The baker lady never returned my smiles but everyday I used to try some new item off her shelf. One day I told her the chocolate filled croissants were awesome. And that was it she smiled and then it was fun. She asked me what I would do with the bread and I used to share with her recipes of all tikki burger, grilled sandwich, and pav bhaji.
Btw i was amazed that I got all spices even turmeric which I thought was just of my country. Except garam masala which I anyways dont eat I got most of them and had a gala time cooking.
It was a small the the size of our satellite city but the population being just 40K. Wow that sparse density of population made all the difference. Everyone knew each other. Because out of 40K nearly 30K of them were students from other cities. So the locals all knew each other. It was just a city setup for the university. During break the city appeared as a ghost place :) All in all a fun place to be but you wont get a feel of a foreign country and people will take time to break the ice before they smile :) But its worth the wait!
I had the opportunity to travel and stay in another country. The city sadly was a small town more like a urban village. Tucked far away across the oceans I was hoping to get a glimpse of a different culture. But it was just like my country. The houses were alike in every respect except the shutters on windows and doors. Cooking on the electric stove and you having to dump the garbage on your own in the bin on the roadside was something different but I loved the ease.
I gorged on veggies, cheese and fruits. I behaved as if I never have eaten them. I bought them not from the supermarket but from a farmers market :) Suddenly I felt my life revolved around food :) Me being such a good customer, after a couple of days I befriended the vegetable vendor and then my smiles were returned. Well more than smiles we exchanged recipes and he found it so strange that I never touched meat. I shared my preparation with him and he gobbled everything. We became friends :) He always smiled and waved me.
The lady my neighbor oh before that they too dry clothes on clothesline like us and they have wooden clothes peg. Back to the lady our balconies faced each other and every time I used to dry my clothes she was there. After days of smiling one day she smiled back when she saw me putting out the jeans and hanging them by the bottom. She too did that for getting it dry quickly. :) Then we always chatted in our respective languages but it was fun. And I did understand her like she did.
The baker lady never returned my smiles but everyday I used to try some new item off her shelf. One day I told her the chocolate filled croissants were awesome. And that was it she smiled and then it was fun. She asked me what I would do with the bread and I used to share with her recipes of all tikki burger, grilled sandwich, and pav bhaji.
Btw i was amazed that I got all spices even turmeric which I thought was just of my country. Except garam masala which I anyways dont eat I got most of them and had a gala time cooking.
It was a small the the size of our satellite city but the population being just 40K. Wow that sparse density of population made all the difference. Everyone knew each other. Because out of 40K nearly 30K of them were students from other cities. So the locals all knew each other. It was just a city setup for the university. During break the city appeared as a ghost place :) All in all a fun place to be but you wont get a feel of a foreign country and people will take time to break the ice before they smile :) But its worth the wait!
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