I have often said this and I repeat -
" The Indoris have only two states of being- either they are eating/cooking or thinking about eating/cooking"
I know that the same could be said about a lot of places/communities in India, but having married someone born and brought up in Indore, I could say this with complete authority.
So I am travelling to Indore tomorrow, and whilst I do have a phobia of continuous bending exercises that I have to endure in the name of show-some- respect, I do love the place, my husbands folks and the general non-metro, non-rushed feel of the air (in no particular order please).
It's also a fact that while for 23 years of life, I only wanted to fly for my travels, now that the lord has granted my wishes and I am forever zipping in the air, for the works, I miss train travels and hence take every opportunity to board the 'Indian Railways' when I can.
So what will I do when in Indore ?
- Eat , eat and eat :
- gorge on Johnny's benjo (they actually call a humble Veg Burger a 'Benjo'- now do the math yourselves and figure out the love of Indoris for all things colourful - language inclusive) at Chappan dukan,
- hog the awesomest Sawariya Sabudana Khichdi (though every second Sabudana Khichdi stall is named Sawariya, any blue blooded Indori will tell you who is the real 'Sawariya'),
- eat the Makke ma kiss(OK, so the only mouth to mouth contact involved is between the dish and your mouth. The 'kiss' only refers to the process of grating, by which it is made), with a vengeance
- fill myself with a glassful of 'Shikanji' (and in case you are thinking that it is lime juice that I am referring to , well! ha! ha!!. Shikanji in Indore is actually more a relative of lassi than lime juice. Gotcha!)
- Sleep, sleep and sleep
What can I say - sleeping in Indore is more fun than in Mumbai. I mean, yes I do love sleeping anywhere, but still the air is just a bit more calmer and peaceful
- Shop, Shop and Shop
Non mall, small gully, intensive haggle, no brand, no need - shopping is just so much more fun
- Laugh, Laugh and Laugh
I love language and usually get upset when people abuse it, but in Indore they do it so lovingly, that I give it to them. So samplers here-
- Multi-Storey Building becomes 'Multi'. Hell! the world (basically, all in Indore. Come to think of it, is the WORLD) know what a Multi is!
- Namkeen becomes - 'micchure' (I think the genesis is this humble English word - 'Mixture')
- While Hindi is the go to language for everything, certain words are spoken only in English - so a Baraat is a 'procession' for even an illiterate Indori, all disposable items become 'disposals' and all Malls become 'Maal'.
