Dhaba experience
The sleeping giant!
This is the man I come to visit every 3 months. He is a pale shade of who he was. Bereft of ambulatory powers, most of his days are spent laying next to his medicine, a few favorite CDs, a couple of books…. and a monkey cap!!! This visit is for less than a day…. but it was totally worth sitting beside him for a few hours when he was awake….
Fixing brother’s car..
“Cha Singara” (Tea and Samosa)
Music with sister
If only every afternoon was this way…
… also called “Fuchka bibhrat”.
Not sure how to introduce the concept of “fuchka” to anybody uninitiated in this delicious snack. But if you have ever seen “Gol gappa” or “Pani Puri” in an Indian restaurant, you will know what I am talking about. It is sold on the roadside under highly suspect hygienic conditions. However, the taste trumps all and religiously my brother, sister, brother in law and myself go ever evening to a nearby roadside vendor here in Kalyani and partake of about 10 of those or so.
This afternoon, everybody was sleeping except my brother, brother in law and myself – so, for over two hours we debated extensively around the whole business model of selling “fuchkas”.
Essentially, we needed to estimate total revenue and margin levels. My brother and I were on two extremes and my brother in law was desperately trying to avoid taking any sides.
The analysis was intense – we had to get a scale (ruler) to estimate the volume of a “fuchka”, estimate how many “fuchkas” a standard size potato would fill, the size of the full container the vendor brings. We even applied time and work estimates around statistical distribution of customer flow, average serving time per “fuchka”, overlap period of one customer eating and the next customer being served. Finally, we had to review the formulas for volume of a frustum of a cone (his container), a sphere (“fuchka”), packing factor and so on.
After so much of precision, my brother and I came miles apart in our answers ๐ I have 75% gross margin on average sales of 600 “fuchkas” per day with a revenue of around Rupees 2,25,000 per year. My brother came at 50% gross margin on average sales of 1500 “fuchkas” per day with a revenue of around Rupees 6,00,000 per year. Both of us agreed that the full container has around 2000 “fuchkas” when totally filled.
Finally we called truce over a cup of tea and agreed to ask the vendor this evening what his real numbers are. I am highly suspicious if he keeps any real accounts though!
It was a great way to spend some stress free quality time with my brother and brother in law though ๐
You want to take any guesses?
Ami ekhon boro hoey gechhi (“Now I have grown up”)
Broke every rule, convention and socially accepted behavior today and went out to run in heavy rains in Kalyani. And dragged my brother with me too!! In fact, we had dressed up for our run and then waited till the rains would start before getting out.
All those years of childhood that our parents would not let us play in the rain…. today was the day we had been waiting for to take our revenge together…. Parents kept complaining (the usual “Thanda legey jaabey” – you will catch a cold) – but now we are grown ups. So we could afford to ignore them!!!
It was just too liberating to be able to feel the heavy rain falling on our skin as we ran 8K in the empty roads. Everybody and sundry was staring at us from the shops, houses etc as we weaved thru every single street possible in the neighborhood. We also stopped at a tea stall where multiple people offered to give us a dry spot to sit in – but we just stayed in the rain and enjoyed our tea.
Finally, came back home and simply sat down in the rain for half an hour. My ever concerned sister got us some steaming tea again!!
Sitting in that rain together with my now grown up brother making idle chit chat we asked ourselves – What good is growing up if we cannot decide not to grow up? ๐
“Ami tobu chhoto-i hobo, seta-i amar ambition” (“I just want to stay a kid and that is my ambition”)
Dad’s sense of humor!
After fighting back some large health issues – with a new stent, new knee and new hearing aids, I was hoping to see dad in his best spirits. Unfortunately, he has been down with viral fever and drained of energy for the last few days. In between his bouts of fever, during those Paracetamol-induced lulls, he is certainly displaying some of his old spirits and coming up with memorable lines. An example:
We came from our trip to the river bank and the adjoining crematorium grounds to find him up on his bed in great spirits. This is how the next couple of minutes of conversation went…
(Bengali version)
Dad: Kothay gechhili sob?
Me: Shmasan ghat dekhe elam.
Dad: Maaney? Shmasan ghat keno?
Me: Ei je kobey theke bhoy dekhachho – morey jaabey naaki ebar. Taai hiseb potro gulo dekhe elam. ๐
Dad (ektu chinta korey): Dekhbi na ebar – protidin phone-e jaalabe – ‘Koi apnader party elo na to ekhono’ ๐
(English translation – best attempt)
Dad: Where were you guys?
Me: We went to check out the crematorium grounds.
Dad (somewhat surprised): What? Why crematorium grounds of all places?
Me (teasing): Oh! You have been threatening to die for quite some time. So we went to check out how the system works.. ๐
Dad (not to be outdone): Good. Now they are going to pain the hell out of you everday over the phone – ‘What happened? Your candidate never showed up!’ ๐
Drinking wine in Kalyani – Problem 3 of 3
So, now we have a bottle of red wine in her hands – more importantly it was open (with rather generous definition of “open”). Next challenge was where were we going to drink it? My parents (who live right above my sister are dead against drinking any alcohol).
So, we did what most self-respecting people would have done at a far younger age. Under the cover of darkness, we snuck up three plastic chairs and our wine to the roof terrace of the building and to be doubly sure, we scaled the sides of the water tank on the roof and got on its top. Completely safe now from any prying parental eyes and with an outstanding view of Kalyani and the numerous trees and cute houses under the moonlit sky, we partook of our preciously secured wine!! ๐