:: naazita ::

Sunday, April 16, 2006 at 00:18

They Took My Papaya

I am an idiot. Yesterday I failed myself and I failed Colombia, having made the stupidest mistake possible, putting all my Colombian training to shame:

*I gave papaya*

Si señor, soy una boba. I gave papaya.

I can see the Colombians & quasi-Colombians amongst us smiling, and I can see the rest of you looking blank. For the benefit of the clueless, I will attempt to explain the papaya concept, tricky as that might be.

It was my very first lesson in Colombia and a near sacred commandment for anyone who lives there or passes through: 'No se puede dar papaya', metaphorical for - don't let your guard down, be naive or ask for trouble. Because when you give payaya, someone's gonna take it, get it?

So what's my papaya story from yesterday? I let down my guard for 10 minutes and had my phone stolen. 10 minutes in an upmarket, well-located, sparsely inhabited home store in the middle of the afternoon. Stolen, dammit!!! And here I am thinking that doesn't happen in India! Worse still, it was my mother's phone. And this is the second time I've done this. I feel like such an idiot.

While in Colombia I was so totally jiggy with the papaya concept, I had mastered the art of being 'papaya savvy'. I would even pride myself on having given papaya on many occasion, but I always got lucky. Much to the amusement and dismay of my Colombian friends, I would leave my phone behind in restaurants, buses, offices, just about anywhere. And it always came back to me. Either I kept running into wonderful, honest human beings or my phone was so crappy & old that no one would want to take it. I think it might be a combination of both factors.

Day 4 in India, went off into la-la land for 10 minutes, and WHOOSH, phone's been whacked. India is overrated on the whole people-being-nice thing sometimes. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

nida said...

hehe - i knew india was jst like pk!!

WishfulThinker said...

I think all of us put the 'kannu' on it at the sailor's place. Tsk tsk.

Goose said...

Hey Naaz! I am sorry to hear about your mom's phone. However, I am glad to read your posts again. We missed you during your month-long hiatus. Don't ever leave like that again young lady, you had us worried sick! Now go to your room and think about what you've done!

:: naazita ::

Sunday, April 16, 2006 at 00:18

They Took My Papaya

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