We have had a great couple of days back in Delhi. Today was a quiet day at home, but not at all dull.
-Ray left at 8.30 am to travel to Faridabad to inspect a possible property for the project.
-For the kids and I it started out a quiet morning. Sam had breakfast in bed...chips, mandarin and banana (its Saturday, I didn't feel like going out and the fridge blew up so we have no other food). I spent the morning pottering around the house, sorting out the washing, helping Hunter with her piano, brushing up on the Hindi alphabet and catching up with friends and family via skype. Sam eventually emerged from bed at noon and proceeded to chat with his grandparents for a few hours. I then get a phone call from the front gate... didn't understand a word so I said nahi Hindi, English... I wait then some one says electricity working? I assume he means the electrician is here to fix the fridge and the hot water heater. 5 minutes later a knock at the door. The electrician comes in and fixes the plug from the fridge... I am laughing now as I think back to Thursday when the electrician first came by to see what the problem was. Ray using charades pointed to the fridge and makes a sound like an explosion with hand gestures... the electrician looked at him like he was an alien... I guess you had to be there but it still cracks me up. So... he replaces the plug and the fridge is running. Next issue the hot water heater, 5 minutes later he has that working but then the charades of explaining how to work it. I picked up a few phrases... 5 minutes, half and hour, warm water, on and off....But just to make sure I wasn't risking future electrocution I called Shekhar to interpret... All good... And the cost for an electrician, new plug and repairs... $3... love it! And now I can have 10 minute hot showers instead of 5 minutes... as long as I keep the water pressure to a trickle.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful.... (black out...now typing in the dark....aah, generator has kicked in, lights on) Ray had downloaded a copy of high school musical 3 as we somehow missed it at the cinemas; it came and went in under a week. Apparently this was because it was rated the equivalent of MA so no kids actually could watch it. So we watched our dodgy German subtitled one today (sorry Disney, but Hunter couldn't wait for the DVD and we will purchase an original when it comes out!).
The highlight of my day today had to be Ray ordering home delivery Indian for dinner. We only order from one place as it is the only one that seems to be willing to take our order in English... frankly I don't understand why the other delivery joints bother printing English menus and distributing them. So... ordering never takes less than 10 minutes due to the language barrier but this time was particularly entertaining... here is an abridged script...
RAY: Hello, I would like to order take-away.
Saleems: Yes, what do you want?
R: take away, delivery...
silence
S:what is your order
R: I would like 3 Chicken tikka roll
S: 3 chicken tikka
R: roll
S:?
R:roll
S:?
R: roll roll
S: ha, 3 chicken tikka roll
R: Yes... 1 aloo roll
S: ha
R: 1 chilly chicken dry
S: chilly chicken
R: dry
S: dry?
R: dry
S: ha
R: and 8 butter naan.
S: ?
R: 8, aat, butter naan, butter naan
S: ?
R: 8 butter naan, roti
S: ha
S:address?
R: plot 9
S: 59
R: no plot 9
S:59
R: no, plot 9, P L O T, plot 9
S: ha
R: sector 45
S:?
R: sector 45
S: ha
R: Doordahan apartments (said about 5 times)
S: number?
R: B 604
S: 604
R: B 604, B B B
S: 604?
R: B, B for Barry. B604
S: B, B for Bombay
R: ha OK B for Bombay, B 604.
this goes on for some time...including mobile number.
R: please confirm the order (necessary after last time)
S: 3 chicken tikka roll, 1 aloo roll, 1 chili chicken dry... excellent
R: the naan what about the naan
S: ?
R: 8 butter naan
S: naan?
R: butter naan, 8, aat, butter naan?
S?
R: naan, roti, butter naan, 8
S: ha, 2 butter naan.
R: NO. 8, 8 ? 8
S: ha, 8 butter naan, excellent.
R: please confirm the order...
and on it goes... the kids and I were in stitches.
It will be interesting to see what arrives.
You may be wondering why so many naan... we will save 4 to have with jam for breakfast... best jam ever!
hope you all enjoy your dinner... whatever it may be... I know we will
1 comment:
this is worth selling to bollywood as a script...truly hilarious!!
Fred
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