"a bua"

It was May 2008 scorching tropical summer in India. It was a festive time at my little town Barpali for Sitalsasthi, the annual wedding ceremony of Lord Siva and Godess Parvati. One morning in the market I met a fair-skinned young man whom I asked, hey are you a Nepali. He said, no I am Charlie from Chicago. I was awestruck, who have granted him visa to enter Barpali without the knowledge of Kiran Mohan. I wanted to know, if he is a tourist and came to witness Sitalsasthi. He said, “my wife Jillian is learning IKAT (tie and dye) at Kusanpuri. In order to put some humour into my questioning, I asked “How far would be Chicago from Kusanpuri” ? He said, are you mad, I am talking of US. This single question of mine grabbed all his attention. I enquired if they met any of the Sambalpuri handloom weavers at Barpali. He said no, it’s just a couple of days since they have reached Barpali and yet to make it.

I able to judge, their limitations on exploring this territory of the world. They don’t know our language i.e. Oriya. On the other hand our weavers community are alien to the English language. As a responsible citizen of India, every evening I started escorting them to different master-weavers and introduced to Bhagabana Meher, Surendra Meher and so on. No sooner we entered any handloom stores, we were being greeted with a smile and offered chairs to seat, followed by cups of tea. Fabulous, so much attention and courtesy, this writer able to get for the first time, because he is escorting two foreigners.

One day we had been to Santoshi Cloath Store. While checking Sambalpuri sarees, Jillian wanted to know the different designs, motifs and patterns that carried. The store boy wanted to explain about the designs with utmost sincerity, but failed as he got no knowledge of English. I went to her aid. I started interpreting Sankha means shell; Chakra means wheel; Phulla means flower and so on. Jillian started to appreciate with her English as "Wow, wow". I said Jillian when you were in US you used to have pizzas, but over here you have barra pukdi, so you have to express your thoughts in Oriya while saying "a bua". When the shop keeper retuned to take-out the next saree, Jillian said "a bua". With this expression of her, the shopkeeper got surprised and looked at my face, to know where she learned Oriya.

Every evening Jillian would return from Kusanpuri and Charlie would join us at our medicine store. One evening while we were talking about their life in US, Jillian started hiccups. While I kept them busy with my talks, I lifted my right-hand and patted on her head without a precaution.  At one go Jillian got shocked and looked towards her husband Charlie. Instantly Charlie got angered, "How could you ever hit my wife"? Of course as a husband it was his responsibility to safeguard his wife. He asked his wife, "are you OK, are you OK". She had no words in her stomach for a while. May be for ten seconds I kept quiet, than started smiling at them. Charlie said, “This fellow has gone mad, let us move”. I asked, “Where your hiccups gone ? This is how, we in India treat the involuntary contraction of diaphragm when the glottis is spasmodically closed. At that moment, I didn’t hit her head, rather I had suppressed the hiccup

So when you liaison with Kiran Mohan just be alert, as he do things without telling the reasons. Give yourself enough time to understand his activities. Charlie is a young man of 26  and Jillian is 22 years old. Though from a developed nation they were soft spoken, their clothing was simple. Jillian used to be a saree-clad woman. They were always truthful. Respected the common man on street. They admiring our Indian culture more than I do.  Before they returned to US, they spent one night with the weaver community at Kusanpuri village. And at morning went to attend the nature’s call to the open field, as their host had no toilet at home.

They have promised me, they will be back to India-Barpali-Kusanpuri in four years time. And when they return, they will have a baby with them. May God Bless them.

This article has been published by The New Indian Express on 1st October 2009 with the title "INVOLUNTARY CONTRACTION OF DIAPHRAGM" :
http://newindianexpress.com/opinion/article133581.ece

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E.Kiran Mohan(The Blogger)

C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D),

Tehsil Chowk,

At\PO: BARPALI – 768 029,

Dist. Bargarh, Odisha, India.