Parsees... MG Road... And Dad I am In deficit !!! :D

I just love MG road… Not because of the planet Ms and shopping malls, Burger king (What I could give for one burger right now!!!) , our temple Thousand Oaks.. But because the road has this I don’t know a feel towards it… especially in the early mornings around 9:30 or 10:00… In fact one of the loveliest things you can do in Poona is to walk down MG road in the early mornings

I mean it’s just lovely and peaceful … The sun’s just up and quite pleasant its rays streaming finding its way through the leaves of the trees on to the road... nice breeze flowing… neighboring shop owners, who probably have been neighbors since God knows when greeting each other with their hellos and good mornings first, a quick two minute chat usually followed by a loud laugh and then the shutter goes up… what makes it better is that there are lots of Parsees with shops and their homes in that vicinity so early mornings you will fond parse auntie’s walking by that road to get to their shop and greeting mostly everyone on the way in their typical Hindi. Crowd slowly starts pouring in… It’s always a beautiful day and the road wakes up, it is in its most humane side and along with the preserved history and culture that is Poona.

As you walk down just before good old Marzorin you will find this old medical store of a Parse uncle who must be in his 80s barely able to walk, standing behind his counter as he must have been doing since I can only guess probably for the past 40 years, aided be a couple of young girls, it’s a large shop mostly coloured in black, and at least for the last 5 years I don’t think has much to offer, but yet the uncle is always there , bang opposite his the Poona Drug Store… another one of the vintage collection, next to it is The Bombay Store… opposite which is Marzorin… Then further ahead a very old parse shop called Royal Bakery (Thanks Moinak !! :) )with the most amazing plum cakes and the most arrogant guy running the shop… (I had a fight with him once)… The shop is again black and I am sure haven’t been renovated since inception… Ahead are a cutter of old shops and buildings… What I wonder is if you walked down MG road in the 80s or maybe 70s ... would it be any different?? Not much I am pretty sure.

In fact I am reminded of the day when I was running in The Poona Marathon and when I was on MG road I remember this Parsi aunty in her 50s standing alone on the road in her Nurse outfit and cheering us on… I always felt Parsees preserve the heritage of a place, its utter comical when they fight at the drop of a hat in their Hindi, their neuroticism but there is always something pleasant about them … (Well not always… Jatin remember Just Baked)

And after you are tired walking get back to Marzorin order a zoom burger, don’t forget to order extra zoom sauce and a cold coffee sit upstairs on the balcony overlooking the road (the sun will still be out … the breeze will still be there) and see the crowd pouring in… See the Kashmiri shop with carpets (which by the way is always empty) stream of people entering Bombay Store, the lovely trees behind the stores and a couple on the pavement in front of the store... It’s very … very….very pleasant (ya and try carrying a book… u can read it there…at least I did) … (Do the above if you are alone and if you have company just talk and stop gaping outside:) )

OK now this story goes back to I guess my second year … I had my account with the sexiest bank in the whole of Poona... Central Bank of India, Fergusson College Branch... No core banking, no debit card, No nothing just a pass book. So all of a sudden one fine morning I realize not surprisingly I am broke… and I needed around 6k quite soon… So it was time for the embarrassing “DAD I AM IN DEFICIT” call… well no wait it was worse because I had to first tell him that… then I would pour in a few major expenses incurred (which he would never ask for but still guilty conscious me!!!) half of the expenses conjured faster out of thin air than harry potter spells… and I must have lost a cell phone during that semester so I will out that in as well… and still I could not justify my expenses… But this time I had to ask him to somehow arrange the money real quick … I needed it in a day or max 2 (I fail to remember why!!!) which was impossible because if he sent me a draft it would take me at least 5 days to reach…

So I made the call… and shamelessly put forth my demand… So dad being dad never said no to anything… So after an hour I get a call from him... that he spoke to some uncle who in turn spoke to his friend and I am supposed to go and collect the money from him and he gave me his number (Dad always rocked in contacts!!!) So I called up Uncle with no clue who he was … “Hi hello uncle … ya ya I remember you.. how is aunty … oh ok I hope she is better now… uncle is been so long since you came to Meghalaya… make a trip soon... ya ya I am fine… so then I got pakaooed and I came to the point very innocently and sweetly I asked “ Uncle Dad asked me to meet you” and he asked me to come over to his shop in MG road in the evening…
MG Road was good... coffee at Marzorin meet him take money… pack few burgers from Burger King for me, my roomies and few etc such as Aditi, Shonai, ever hungry Reema (LOL!!!) So alls good… Money, dinner …

I was about to leave when the Legend himself volunteered to come along with me… so me and Neel left for MG Road. I called up uncle and he said his shop was next to this hotel on MG road… Both of us never remembered seeing that hotel so I thought it will be in one of the lanes or towards the other end of MG Road. So I and Neel get down in front of The Bombay Store and we decided to walk… We walked to the other end of MG Road but we could not find the hotel and the shop… So I called up uncle again... he gave me a landmark and some direction … So we walked back to where we started… and went inside a by lane… Another 20 minutes of here and there and yet nothing… even the landmark was not there… someone suggested to go towards Pantaloons and it’s there… So I called up uncle again and by this time he got irritated and he concluded I am useless and wanted to talk to the auto wala… I said I was walking with my friend… so he asked are you on the main MG Road… I was like no I am In the Duplicate MG Road Idiot … I responded yes I am… then he is walk straight down and you will see this white building which is the hotel and next to it is my shop OK !!!! And he hung up.. So I and Neel walked straight down but no white building, no hotel, no nothing…. We searched again for 30 minutes and nothing!!!

So we got back to The Bombay Store and I called him again… Bastard had lost it by then… I was like ok uncle I am standing in front of THE BOMBAY STORE now tell me… He was like “What Bombay Store.. You are not on MG Road” I was like no uncle I am on MG Road… “No you are not!!! Give the phone to the auto driver” “ (For the nth time) But uncle I am NOT in a (fucking!!)Auto I am walking with a friend” He is practically yelling now “You and your friend do not know anything, get on an auto and tell him to get you to MG Road” and he hung up…

We were both standing there not knowing what to do… then it struck me… I called him back and I asked “Uncle you are in MG Road Poona right” He was like “What Poona I am in Hyderabad” SILENCE FROM MY END … well mentally gallis one after other but on the phone silence then I spoke “Uncle I am in Poona” Now silence in his end and then he goes “SO how do I give the money” I was like “How do you think you will ever give me the money here” and then we hung up.. Told Neel what happened… Neel started off with his silent laughter and then “yaar … yaar… hahahahhahahaha”… Then the entire incident sunk in and even I burst out don’t know where we got the energy to laugh … We were bloody tired ... thankfully Neel was there and he paid for the burgers and I took out my phone then “DAD I AM STILL IN DEFICIT”!!!