Yesterday was delicious. For lunch, it was a bit of a scavenger hunt for the elusive but sure-to-be-delicious "Picante", our friends' take on the Chipotle they missed so much from business school in the US. The wild goose chase did not disappoint. Tucked into an office block, Picante was simply delicious... Tyler went back for a second burrito! From our end, it's been so much fun to watch them turn their consulting skills into something entrepreneurial, physical... and simply delicious. The scale of potential business in India is often mind-blowing. In the "little" office building they've opened up in, there are 10,000 people, with 16,000 next door... and 50,000 in the few-block radius (with tenants like Bain, GE, and Deloitte). With Picante now open and Starbucks set to open in India this August, I'm beginning to have second-thoughts on when to leave...
Dinner was yet another wild goose chase (which happens nearly every time we go somewhere new, since logical addresses simply do not exist in Delhi... which is a step-up from Hyderabad where there were no addresses at all). Although our friends live about ten minutes away, we drove around in circles for about half an hour... until we found our favorite chicken tikka delivery place, and asked them for directions. Luckily for us, one of their delivery boys was heading to the same block, so we happily followed him!
Dinner at Anurag's and Kavari's was delicious... quite possibly the best butter chicken we've had (Tyler had third's!)... Good wine and great conversation, and a fun group of friends (not to mention a seven-month old baby and a giant dog). With a dynamic group of MBAs and JD's in the room, it was interesting hearing Indians take on the future of China and the US... not to mention India.
Perhaps the most interesting was when the conversation turned to hijras, translated into "eunuchs" and refers to transgendered men dressed as women. Fascinatingly, hijras have a place in Indian mythology, making it "auspicious" to give money to them on special events, like marriages, births, and new homes. But lest you have to worry about finding them during these times, they will find you (against your will, and often, as we learned last night, bribing the registration office for addresses).
Kavari told the story of a group of hijras who showed up at her house days after she registered for her baby's birth certificate. They demanded one lakh rupees (about $2500). When I innocently asked what happens if you don't pay them, the room laughed and replied things like: "they cause a raucous"... "they strip down naked"..."they start crying"... "they threaten to stab themselves with a knife and get blood all over your room."
A bit surreal, to say the least.
Luckily, Kavari was able to thwart them (although her family was not so lucky during her brother's wedding... "first they were singing... then they were crying..." What seemed to do the trick was threatening to stab themselves, which would make a very auspicious day a very unauspicious one indeed!) She told about her friend who just moved into her new house... when the hijras arrived, she was able to negotiate to only pay Rs 10,000 (about $250)!
Fascinated, I researched more about hijras online. Many hijras live in well-defined, organized communities, led by a guru. These communities have sustained themselves over generations by "adopting" young boys who are rejected by, or flee their family of origin. Not all are actually "eunuchs", although some do undergo an initiation rite into the hijra community to physically become a eunuch. There is no dearth of tragic tales online about the lives of hijras in India, as ostracized individuals with few rights.
It says something about India that a few months before we leave, there is still so much more about the onion of Indian culture to peel down... In many ways, I have just as many questions about the country as when I arrived.
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