50Rupees aka 1$

How will your day/life changes if you get 50 bucks? Hmm...Clueless..Breathless... Phew jerk, I am talking about 50Rs not 50$.
A 50Rs is approximately 1USD. A litre of petrol, half Kg of apple, 1 Kg of rice, half kg of chicken, bribe a traffic police, a badminton cock, a bottle of local beer, a pirated movie CD, a “readers digest” magazine, ..Etc. The minimum I spend a day is around 2-3$. The average daily income of a common man in rural outskirts is around 50Rs. Has the value of 50Rs plummeted relatively?

Let me reminisce an incident, during the midst of 1994, an uninvited gentleman knocked our doors. He politely claimed to be a police man not in a regular outfit. My eldest brother has just successfully cleared an interview with a huge public sector and the police man has been sent as a part of the verification. (Verification is a process in which the candidate’s whereabouts is closely studied, measured, scanned and a report will be crafted). The report gives a brief about the behavioural nature of the candidate and the observations from neighbours and friends. Apparently the short cut to get a composite and healthy report is through bribe. (Remember we are talking about the most sacred, diversified, corrupt democracy of the world. Listen what Gandhi said, “Work is worship”).

The surprise visit has to be prudently indulged without any fizzle and unfortunately my parents don’t have a single penny to bribe, as it was month end. We were in dire straits. Papa ordered my second brother, Giri to borrow 50Rs from an uncle (vaman uncle and aunty) who hails in the perimeters of our house (5 minutes run). Giri, unruffled took the back doors, jumped the fence made a stunning beeline to Uncle’s house. He gathered the footsteps in aplomb, hastily galloped and tweaked through the boulevards with an approximate rhythm like Carl Lewis. He returned after 20 minutes with 50Rs and was pounding faster. He couldn’t feel his maimed feet and sat on the veranda and commented “I should try for 100 metres Olympics next time”.

The police man hesitatingly accepted the bribe and left happily. It was an unexpected incident in our family which remarkably found the fruit with the steadfast effort of my brother. Giri was proud and delighted for his accomplishment and in the chaos my parents forgot to appreciate him. But he neither piqued nor gouged

We often forget the past, the roads we travelled, the heydays, the mountain of challenges and success. It is not a rocket science that the money will come today and vanishes tomorrow. An excerpt from Gita,“What have you lost, that you are weeping? What have you bought, that you have lost? What have you made, that have been destroyed? You bought not anything. What you have, you got from here. What was given, was given here. What you took, you took from this universe. What you gave, you gave unto this universe. You have come empty handed and shall go empty handed.. What is yours today was somebody else's in the past and will be somebody else's in the future.” These incidents remind that value of money is relative to time.
At least these currency notes remind us of the smiling Gandhi.
Hail Gandhi ....Hail 50Rs.

My experiences with the familia....

The bus was cosy, flossy but I was dizzy, drowsy and messy. Dani and I are heading to the family home (casa) at Espirito Santo do Pinhal from Sao Paulo. I am supposed to be thrilled and excited as I am being introduced to my other half of the family for the first time. As usual, Dani slept on my shoulders and I watched the vivid ceremonies of the nature through the window. The highways are wide, organised and well directed. The landscape is absolutely out of belief with legions of green serene coffee and eucalyptus plantations. Dani’s siblings Julio, Marianna, Daise came to pick us at the highway. One by one they embraced me and gave a tight hug. We got into the car and I sat sandwiched between Dani and Marianna in the back seat. Julio drove us to the family house

Mae was at the corridors anxiously waiting for us, infact to see Dani and I together. She walked towards me and gave an even tighter hug than the siblings. She was looking brilliantly pretty and blocked my way with Portuguese greetings. It was lunch time and family gathered around the dining table. The lunch was rich with traditional Brazilian cuisine (beans, rice and lentils) and fresh green salads followed by a sweet pastry as desert. Dani was my translator and we plunged into conversation pertaining my Brazilian ventures, work and family. We cracked Jokes which added flavour to our lunch. After lunch Mae proudly showed her paintings and Dani guided me through the house.

Later that afternoon Dani took me for a drive through the country side and the city centre. We covered the churches, schools, university, boulevards and hot spots of the small city. We then met the grandparents, aunt Regina and couple of local friends. I was so popular in the city that everyone knows about Dani’s Indian Hindu sun soaked software Engineer boyfriend. In the evening we attended Mae’s cooking class, which entered the last day of the season. Students served us with traditional and delicious Brazilian dish followed by wine and pastries. They queued up to give me hugs and kisses. I answered them with hand gestures and lip movements like a deaf and dumb instructor. After the dinner we reached home and Pai was home watching TV. He instantly said “hello Pooja, tudo bem?”, I was awestruck and replied “muito bem”. We exchanged handshakes like CEO’s of multibillion dollar company and a light weak hug which spoiled the hugs I received on that day. Victor was shy and went to sleep early. I slept at Dani’s bedroom and Dani at her sister’s bedroom. Her room was small, but elegant, organized and neat. Her bed was soft, cosy and I wrapped myself with the soft quills. The altar has idols of Hindu gods, antiques, incenses and our framed picture. She hanged my painting which I gifted her on the walls. But that night was the worst, humiliating, disgusting nights I ever had.

The next day I woke with bitterness and Dani guided me to the dining table. Mae has prepared coffee for me and we had a heavy breakfast which included variety of cereals, cheese, butter, bread and cake. Dani then took me to show the farm house. The most interesting part of Dani and her life was her super swank farm house. Floras and faunas lived in harmony. They have oranges, avocados, bananas, cherries, mangos, papayas and plethora of Brazilian fruits. There is swimming pool, children’s playground, basketball court, small grass court for football, timber mill and beautiful out house where Julio stayed. The coffee plantations and eucalyptus trees acted as a fence which prevents unauthorized civilians to enter. There is small lake separating the farm house with the neighbouring farm house. And the entire farm house is guarded by 4 dogs, chickens and horses. We were followed and entertained by Charlie, chiquinha and chalitha.

The following days we visited her grandparents, cousins and friends. I paid a hurried visit to her clinic and colleagues. I played football with Julio, Victor and Bruno. I even accompanied her to see her doctor and received some advises. And on our way back from Campinas we picked up her police uncle, Ricardo. He proudly showed me his Russian made pistol which weighed above 5 kgs. When we reached home, we had visitors. Dani asked me to get refreshed and asked me to wear her favourite shirt. I got refreshed and wore the red shirt and blue denim jeans and went to the dining hall. I was shell shocked by the crowd inside the house. The atmosphere was pumped up and the crowd received me like a rock star. I was the in house DJ, Paul Van Dyke. I saw Dani in the other corner of the room and she waved her hands with an abducting smile. I tried to edge slowly through the crowd, it was worse than the traffic in Bangalore. The gathering consists of uncles, aunts, cousins, colleagues, patients and children’s. After lots of action packed adventure, hugging, grabbing, clasping, cuddling, hobnobbing, like an ambling bull I successfully reached the target. The dining table was packed with variety of snacks and drinks. Along with kisses and hugs I received gifts (perfumes, idols, paintings and clothes). Ricardo and his fiancé gifted me with a wine and a shirt. Adding splendour to the soiree all the ladies wore bindies. Everyone wants to talk with me, but unfortunately my hand gestures proved fatal. I carried little Maria for a while. After photography session all the visitors gathered outside at the basket ball court. We formed a circle and Dani thanked everyone for their participation. The surprise was a well planned joint venture by Dani and her relatives. After all it was the “mother of all surprises”. Everyone left happily and it was the most memorable evenings in my entire life.


On my last at the family house, siblings dropped by my room and gave a tight hug and kiss. I saw wet eyes on my siblings and a silent request from deep down “Pooja please don’t go”. I sat on the bed watching Dani’s expertise on packing. Next day morning, Mae dropped us at the bus station and she gave me a tight hug. My eyes become wet, but I resisted. After 4 hours of travel we reached Sao Paulo to spend our last day together. We visited the majestic and magnificent Ze church and new Sao Paulo city. The concrete blocks gave me an impression of NYC. We met Silvia, Dani’s teacher and attended her session on EMF. It was breath taking and I cried a lot. Finally after a momentous visit I gave her one last kiss and took the flight back home.

The visit was the most incredible and mesmerizing thing i have done in my entire life. A decision which i took all along with the backing of Dani was awe inspiring to many other couples. I thank our family, friends and God for feeding us with strength, courage, support and bliss. Last but the least, I thank Dani, without her I would have never achieved this glory.