Japaaan... Me in Tokyo

Don't read that title. Sing it. Sing it the way Mohd. Rafi sang it in his immortal song for Jai Mukherjee in Love in Tokyo.

A friend asked me - "So, how's Tokyo??" And Me said - "With Me around, it couldn't be any better ever". "Stop blabbering", he said.

OK. Stop blabbering, let me.

Came here last thursday. Will leave this thursday. As you must've understood already, on a business trip. Don't ask me what's it that Me's supposed to do. Can't tell ya. Confidential. A save-mother-earth-from-imminent-danger type confidential. Pch. Pch. Sorry. Don't try to force me.

So, how's Tokyo?? Pretty good yaar. Most of the things are near about the same though.

-- Like the sun still rises in the east. A little early though. Like 5:00 AM early. Never knew He woke up so early. And that's more evident to me, 'cause my room at the hotel is on the 27th floor. ;-)

-- Like its a little sultry. Not the Chennai type sultry, but a little sultry.

-- Like ppl are pretty normal. Except that its very rare to find someone too tall. And they all look like - you know - put your finger on the end of your eyes and drag it outwards and look at yourself in the mirror.

-- Like kids are still bubbly. The hit-one-on-someone's-butt-and-then-go-hide-behind-their-mom types. The insist-on-piggybacking-their-dad types.

--Like parents still show their little ones a fire-engine and tell 'em that that's a fire-engine. And the kids awe their wonder in their looks.

--Like there are quite a few tourist attractions.

--Like quite a few residents who haven't visited those tourist attractions in their own city yet.

--Like there's an area like the SP Road of B'lore or Gujarati Galli of Hyd. Where they sell lot of electronics. The only difference is the scale. They sell 'lotssss' of electronics here. Right from resistors to readily built boards to second hand laptops to branded stuff. Everything. Every single thing that can be classified Electronics. Me saw a lappy being sold at an equivalent price of 2500 indian bucks.

--Like ppl working hard. But the scale is again different. The work hardly. And verry verry hardly. Like 8AM to 9PM type hardly.

--Like ppl catchup on some sleep at work. And a few who sleep on pavements and shop-fronts at night. Again, the scale is differents. Its not as common as we see it.

The biggest differences here are food and language.

Food - you hardly get vegetarian food. Me means you get vegetarian food. But that'll atleast have fish. Or anything that goes as vegetarian here. Me's surviving with the help of the American b'fast at hotel and dinner at a Indian restaurant, which is so Indian that the menu doesn't have anything in rice other than steamed rice and 'saffron rice'.

And language - trust me. By the time Me's back in India, Me'd have become too good at dumb charades. What fun it is. And must mention - Japanese language is definitely fun to learn. Me thinks the gentleness that you typically see in people around is generated from within the language.

In all, Me feels good to have been here. And Me feels good to be getting back home too.

:-)

Me.

p.s:- Where's Me been all this while?? Tradition you know. Can't change it. You got to go into that hibernating mode for atleast 6 months after marriage.
p.p.s:- My lady is doing good too. Thanks for asking. O... btw, she says a hi to you all too.
p.p.p.s:- Yes, she's treating me well. Very well actually. She loves the little paunch that Me's put on since she's started cooking for me. Actually, she says that's one thing she likes a lot in me. :-D