| I force myself to leave my computer and walk down | | | | my linguistics!The boss emerges from the kitchen a |
| for lunch. I have been writing all morning after my | | | | few moments later. He is the chef of his restaurant |
| little jaunt down at the artificial-turfed playground for | | | | while his wife doubles as the cashier and waitress. |
| my run and exercise. It's been a late start and | | | | The little boss, the daughter, has her own double role. |
| breakfast, a simple meal consisting of wholewheat | | | | She plays usher and waitress. The three of them run |
| biscuits and a tetrapack of sweet strawberry | | | | the restaurant without outside help. I suspect they |
| flavoured milk, was delayed, too. To lunch or not to | | | | hire help in peak season or when there is a sudden |
| lunch is the question.To lunch, I decide, is a better | | | | rush of diners. There are eight table-cloth'ed, |
| option... This evening I have to eat pizzas for dinner | | | | glass-topped tables that seat four each on the |
| and though they're a tasty enough repast, they're | | | | ground floor and a couple of those hideaway, |
| not quite what my body thrives on. A university | | | | round-tabled, private dining rooms that all 'respectable' |
| official has invested in a new pizza joint in downtown | | | | restaurants in China have, on the first floor. They |
| Huainan and I have been asked to 'grace' the opening | | | | would certainly need extra help when all those tables |
| ceremony along with the other two foreign teachers | | | | are occupied. A television is mounted atop a raised |
| here. They're Amercians, and, therefore, high-profile. I | | | | shelf and I turn my eyes in its direction. There's a |
| am Indian, therefore, tolerated. India's rapid economic | | | | family drama being played there and I don't |
| progress, of late, makes me less of a pariah than I | | | | understand too much. 'My Chinese is too poor,' I |
| might have been some years ago. A man is known | | | | mimic some students' 'my English is too poor' in my |
| by the country he 'keeps', to rephrase an old | | | | mind as I watch the drama unfold. A middle-aged |
| proverb, and a touch inappropriately at that. I, | | | | woman scolds her husband who leaves her, |
| sometimes, lie and sometimes joke about where I | | | | apparently for good, while her pretty daughter |
| come from. I don't want to be identified with merely | | | | alternates between scolding hers and giving the most |
| my origins. There's more to me than where I was | | | | beatific of smiles.Today, I am the sole customer. |
| born and raised. In any case, I don't see my lies as | | | | Others have come and gone or will come and go. |
| lies as I neither hope nor expect to gain from the lies | | | | The boss comes over with a bottle of baijiu (white |
| in any way. It's just a momentary thing.I walk past | | | | wine) and offers me a glass. I ask him to make it |
| my favourite eating place, Xiawu Fandian (Afternoon | | | | small, 'yi tiantian' (a little). The baijiu makes me |
| Restaurant). Of late, the fare served there has failed | | | | drowsy and takes me away from my writing, as |
| to tickle my palate or inspire my intestines. They | | | | does the beer. My afternoon naps last longer than |
| have changed the oil they use in their cooking. It has | | | | intended and I add an extra, unwanted layer to my |
| an unpleasant flavour and leaves a strange | | | | 'pijiu duzi' (beer belly). The boss smiles as he pours |
| aftertaste. I informed the laoban niang (boss's wife) | | | | me a drink. I thank him and begin to sip leisurely while |
| and pointed out my unfinished plate on a couple of | | | | the ta baicai waits. The boss has disappeared into the |
| occasions. She looked stoic and unmoved so I | | | | kitchen and arrives a little later, dish in hand, following |
| decided it was time for me to move, instead. Past | | | | his wife carrying another. They place their lunch on a |
| the Afternoon Restaurant and then the Friendship | | | | table across from mine.Chen Tai Cao, the boss, goes |
| Restaurant across the street, where I sometimes | | | | over to a stack of brightly coloured plastic beer |
| eat. They serve cabbage with pre-fried tofu (the | | | | crates and picks out a bottle of unrefrigerated beer. |
| Chinese pronunciation is doufu) in medium spicy, | | | | He opens one and looks at me. Picking up a plastic |
| sweetish style that tickles my taste buds but leaves | | | | glass, he heads in my direction as I protest. He insists |
| me bloated.The sky is overcast but the temperature | | | | and pours me a glassful. Like so many of his |
| is comfortable at about ten above. I notice the open | | | | countrymen, a 'no' to Chen means a 'yes'. It's polite |
| door of a neighbouring optician's and decide to have | | | | to say no when one means yes and a no can rarely |
| a word with the boss as I ask for a little tinkering | | | | dissuade a determined host. He, then, sits down to |
| with my spectacles. I hand him my metal-rimmed, | | | | lunch with his small family, pours himself a full glass of |
| plastic-lens glasses and he notices the problem. We | | | | baijiu while the remaining beer in the bottle is aligned |
| chat briefly as he tightens the screw on my | | | | with the dishes.Chen and his family are soon |
| spectacle arm. It's done in seconds and he hands | | | | absorbed in their meal and pay no more attention to |
| them back to me. I notice that the lens have the oily | | | | me. His sips of the fiery baijiu are large and soon his |
| fogginess that fingers leave on glasses and ask for a | | | | glass half-empty. They're half-way into their meal and |
| spectacle cleaning cloth, demonstrating the act of | | | | a pair of diners arrive. Chen leaves his seat without a |
| cleaning to tell him what I want. He opens a drawer | | | | moment's hesitation, takes the order and disappears |
| and hands me a shiny new cleaning cloth. I ask him | | | | into the kitchen once again. The little boss also leaves |
| how much. He motions, nothing. I feel a little little | | | | the table to set the table for the new arrivals. |
| guilty accepting it for free but he refuses to accept | | | | Laoban niang continues with her meal. Her turn to |
| payment. I thank him as I leave, wondering what | | | | leave will come later.I watch the goings-on and eat |
| makes the people in China so generous. I head slowly | | | | quickly, having finished my baijiu and most of the |
| away from the dongmen (east gate) as the main | | | | beer.Soon, I am done with my lunch and walk over |
| gate of the university is commonly called.I find myself | | | | the counter to pay for my lunch. Chen has come out |
| at the door of Yi Da Pan (One Big Pan), the | | | | and pushes my hand with the proffered money |
| restaurant that kept me alive when all of Huainan and | | | | resolutely away.'Wo bu hui lai' (I can't come) I say in |
| most of China had shut shop for the Spring Festival | | | | my inadequate Chinese, threatening him with never |
| barely a month ago. All the little eateries near my | | | | visiting his restaurant again. Chen pushes my hand |
| school, including Xiawu Fandian and Friendship | | | | away again. I pretend exasperation, repeating 'wo |
| Restaurant had closed shop then, leaving those | | | | bu...' This time Chen looks uncertain and says |
| without culinary skills and the handicapped to survive | | | | something to his wife who takes the money and |
| on universal love and firecracker-affected | | | | gives me the change. All she takes is san kuai qian |
| not-so-fresh-air. Yi Da Pan was about the only | | | | (three yaun) for my lunch and that after much |
| restaurant then that opened its doors to welcome | | | | no-noing.I walk out, feeling a sense of elation that |
| the hungry and homeless.Laoban (boss) welcomes | | | | one feels when one sees man display his finer |
| me with a warm smile. Laoban niang and xiao laoban | | | | qualities. I think about the optician and Chen and his |
| (little boss), the wife and daughter are equally warm. | | | | family and marvel at how some people can be |
| 'Ta baicai (cabbage)?' the boss asks as he turns | | | | generous though they're themselves relatively poor. I |
| towards the kitchen. I nod as I return his smile.The | | | | wonder what it is in China that endows some people |
| plate of stir-fried ta baicai, as it is spelt in Pinyin | | | | with large hearts. I wonder why some people are so |
| (Chinese written/spelt in the Roman script), arrives a | | | | accepting and endearing. I wonder why the rich often |
| short wait later. The Chinese language has thousands | | | | want more while the poor are happy with the little |
| of characters and no one can tell for certain how | | | | they have. I wonder why more men cannot be like |
| many there really are. Pinyin is the script they use to | | | | Chen and the optician. I wonder who is happier - the |
| work on computers or they would have needed a | | | | rich or the poor. I wonder why the rich scowl behind |
| keyboard the size of a mini. Pinyin uses a phonetic | | | | their dark sunshades while the poor smile in the sun.I |
| system quite different from English or other | | | | smile as I think of the name Chen has chosen for his |
| Romance languages. The sounds used in the Chinese | | | | restaurant. 'Yi Da Pan' can so safely be changed to 'Yi |
| language are different from English and other | | | | Da Xin' (One Big Heart - or three - or more, |
| European languages. Therefore, they needed to | | | | perhaps!)Rajesh Kanoi (Jack) is a published writer, |
| devise a system that included their phonemes. The | | | | now living and working in China. Many of his |
| 'ta' in ta baicai is pronounced with a soft 't' and a long | | | | short-stories, poems and articles have been published, |
| vowel sound while the 'cai' in baicai is an aspirated | | | | including a book of short-stories, 'From China With |
| 'chai'. The 'ch' sound is also different than the one | | | | Love' (Lipstick Publishing). |
| used in English and has a little 's' ring to it. Enough of | | | | |