India has moved on, but Indian Stores in the Bay Area haven't. Like those protagonists in films who suffer from selective amnesia, these stores are stuck to an India which is passe and simply refuse to grow up.
It's the last weekend in the Bay Area and it was a good opportunity to swing by the Indian stores we used to frequent years ago. The current pictures matched line-for-line with those etched in memory.....just the way we align a picture traced out.... with the original copy! So exact was the match!
Spotting an Indian Store is simple. You don't need Google maps. The scent of spice will waft through the air and drag you into the store! This is not an overstatement. I've no idea how the fragrance (for want of a better term) is contained in India. India anyway has all kinds of sights, sounds and smells- there is no one thing which particularly overpowers you. But in the US, these stores draw your attention like no other. The entire air enveloping the store... the parking lot, the pavement, the street.. right down to the other side of the road is redolent with a heady mix of garam masala and a host of other pungent spices.
The Indian store is well...like..... India. Bronze idols of Sai baba, Ganeshji and Nataraj sit side by side without the slightest protest... next to bottles of gongura achar (pickle) and Dabur Chywanprash!! It is the sheer bewildering variety....from the sublime to the seemingly ridiculous that you are assailed with... almost as if a child in mischievous glee...emptied the entire toy box face down...and watched the contents scatter away in all directions!
Agarbattis, puja bells, parachute oil, vicks, amrutanjan, calendars with garish pictures of Durga Mata with bold letters in vernacular, rusks, chikkis, chivdas... suddenly a wooden elephant or a porcelain Buddha..tins of Bournvita, Horlicks, Boost..... a boxful of "rakhis", asafoetida ("hing"), toothpowder, DVDs of mindless movies in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu...all piled up in a haphazard heap... the list goes on and on! Mukesh's mournful melodies from a dim and distant past provide the perfect backdrop to complete the picture.
One corner is reserved for Indian dresses. For sure, no one wears anything other than Punjabi suits, saris and embroidered kurta-pyjama in India! Buying a dress from one of these stores comes with an inherent risk. Garam masala would have permeated into the innermost pore of these dresses- you're sure to be a head-turner at the next party...unless of course... it is a sinister move on your part to ensure that your party host is hospitalised with a sudden bout of allergy.... driven by incessant sneezing!! You would have made a style statement... and a smelly one at that!
India has always been a land of the exotic, but this one unsettles the most seasoned Indian. Arranged on one of the shelves was this most innocuous bottle of oil ("tel") labelled "Narayan tail"! Our fertile imagination runs riot on the many possibilities. If a new breed of "vanaras" take over the Bay Area, we know which magic potion did the trick!!
Munna!...Aye Munna...! If you actually need "Horlicks" or "Nutramul" for your milk, "Narayan tail" for your scalp and "armutanjan" for your headache.....you're suffering from severe home-sickness!! You'll never make it in the Bay Area. You bloody well (sorry for the expletive!) should be taking the next flight back to India!!
It's the last weekend in the Bay Area and it was a good opportunity to swing by the Indian stores we used to frequent years ago. The current pictures matched line-for-line with those etched in memory.....just the way we align a picture traced out.... with the original copy! So exact was the match!
Spotting an Indian Store is simple. You don't need Google maps. The scent of spice will waft through the air and drag you into the store! This is not an overstatement. I've no idea how the fragrance (for want of a better term) is contained in India. India anyway has all kinds of sights, sounds and smells- there is no one thing which particularly overpowers you. But in the US, these stores draw your attention like no other. The entire air enveloping the store... the parking lot, the pavement, the street.. right down to the other side of the road is redolent with a heady mix of garam masala and a host of other pungent spices.
The Indian store is well...like..... India. Bronze idols of Sai baba, Ganeshji and Nataraj sit side by side without the slightest protest... next to bottles of gongura achar (pickle) and Dabur Chywanprash!! It is the sheer bewildering variety....from the sublime to the seemingly ridiculous that you are assailed with... almost as if a child in mischievous glee...emptied the entire toy box face down...and watched the contents scatter away in all directions!
Agarbattis, puja bells, parachute oil, vicks, amrutanjan, calendars with garish pictures of Durga Mata with bold letters in vernacular, rusks, chikkis, chivdas... suddenly a wooden elephant or a porcelain Buddha..tins of Bournvita, Horlicks, Boost..... a boxful of "rakhis", asafoetida ("hing"), toothpowder, DVDs of mindless movies in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu...all piled up in a haphazard heap... the list goes on and on! Mukesh's mournful melodies from a dim and distant past provide the perfect backdrop to complete the picture.
One corner is reserved for Indian dresses. For sure, no one wears anything other than Punjabi suits, saris and embroidered kurta-pyjama in India! Buying a dress from one of these stores comes with an inherent risk. Garam masala would have permeated into the innermost pore of these dresses- you're sure to be a head-turner at the next party...unless of course... it is a sinister move on your part to ensure that your party host is hospitalised with a sudden bout of allergy.... driven by incessant sneezing!! You would have made a style statement... and a smelly one at that!
India has always been a land of the exotic, but this one unsettles the most seasoned Indian. Arranged on one of the shelves was this most innocuous bottle of oil ("tel") labelled "Narayan tail"! Our fertile imagination runs riot on the many possibilities. If a new breed of "vanaras" take over the Bay Area, we know which magic potion did the trick!!
Munna!...Aye Munna...! If you actually need "Horlicks" or "Nutramul" for your milk, "Narayan tail" for your scalp and "armutanjan" for your headache.....you're suffering from severe home-sickness!! You'll never make it in the Bay Area. You bloody well (sorry for the expletive!) should be taking the next flight back to India!!
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