Parcel to Kerala

Thanks to fellow blogger Lieve Lee, with whom I share both Flemish roots and a love of good coffee and tea, I met another Flemish woman in Bhopal’s DB City mall today.

In her fascinating WP blog, Lieve Round The World, Lieve had recently bemoaned the lack of and pure (chicory-less) ground coffee and decent Darjeeling tea in her particular neck of the Keralan woods. I knew exactly how she felt, but luckily I had already discovered the one and was close to nailing the other. And when I did, I was more than happy to share this bounty (two types of Lopchu Estate tea and some CCD Arabica) with her. Both of us had learned that in India things are often found in unexpected places. Most grocery stores and supermarkets in Bhopal carry only instant coffee, but I had found that the Café Coffee Day chain also sold ground bean coffee. On my way to mail Lieve’s parcel, I decided to try a different coffee shop to see if they happened to sell coffee, too. And indeed, the Australian-origin Chocolate Room in the mall also sold the premium Indian beans they use for their espresso drinks.

It took a while for them to grind my purchase, which came in a 500-gram pack. Too impatient to sit down, I stood by the counter and surveyed the scene. And there, in the corner, I spied someone who looked a little bit… like me. She was texting and only raised her eyes from her phone when I approached her and boldly said, “Can I ask you a question?” I don’t normally do this kind of thing but I just started the Bhopal Expat Meetup group, which, but for myself, has only Indian members so far. So I wanted to know if she lived here. She was staying in Indore and just visiting a friend in Bhopal. And then she asked, “Where are you from, originally?” It turned out she had pinpointed my accent while I was talking to the sales clerk. Because like me, Dorien Van de Mieroop is Flemish and a linguist, but her field is General Linguistics, not Indology, and her alma mater Leuven, not Ghent. Amazing!

Next stop was the Blue Dart/DHL office in T.T. Nagar. I had found a small shoebox that perfectly held my present for Lieve. Made from recycled, recyclable cardboard, it was not very strong. I had, however, been told that the courier service would supply the appropriate mailing supplies. Alas, it turned out they did not serve the area where Lieve lives and works.

So I decided to try Speed Post, a service similar to Priority Mail in the USA. They provide tracking but alas, no boxes. My driver Vijay helped me wrap the shoebox in a plastic shopping bag–turned inside out–and secure it with tape. (This kind of low-tech inventiveness goes by the name “jugaad” in India.) He suggested a nearby post office but I told him to just stop at the Bhopal General Post Office in Royal Market, a less congested area on our way home. The imposing building had been freshly painted and I walked in full of hope, only to find the clerks sitting idle. The server was down and it would take “a long time” to fix. Patiently, Vijay drove me back to T.T. Nagar through the crazy traffic with just a hint of “I told you so.” In his caring way he asked if I needed to buy any fruits or vegetables. Bananas, I said. He dropped me at the post office door and when I came out 10 minutes later, mission accomplished, he was waiting there, with my bananas. As soon as I got home I sent the tracking number to Lieve and a FB friend request to Dorien. And now, dear reader, I’m going to eat a banana and try my new coffee!