Naveen’s Travel Blog

Asking for Nimbu panni

August 04, 2008

Half-way through the trek from Govindghat to Gangaria, i made one of my long breaks in a road-side dhaba(shop).

My knowledge of Hindi was pathetic but i had hardly any need to use it as i was travelling in a group. Now being alone, didn’t warrant any concern because one needs to just point and the prices were well known. At my previous break, i had seen a few people taking lemon juice and had learned that it was called as “Nimbu Panni”.

So here i’am in a dhaba ordering the Nimbu panni. Usually the shop-walla(shop keeper) should just start working on it. But this fellow, sales-minded as i presumed, enquired, “Bananaa?”. I looked at the fruits spread across the counter and the not-so-encouraging bananas. I framed my reply as short as possible, “Naani, naani, only nimbu panni”(No, no, only lemon juice).

The shop-walla repeated again which sounded like, “Banana heey?” I wasn’t impressed. Why the hell he wants to sell those bananas. I replied more or less in the same way, “Naani, no banana, only nimbu paani”.

The shop-walla appeared confused. He made gestures of squeeing the lemons and asked again, “Bananaa hey?” Looking carefully at his actions, i thought i had understood. He wants to know if i would like banana in the lemon juice. What? If eating banana along with lemon juice would be odd, then having it squeezed into my lemon juice would be unthinkably weird. My reply is more complicated because i wanted to remove the thought of adding banana into my lemon juice from his mind. So i got out of my chair, faced him straight and told him firmly with as many gestures, that i do not want banana and wanted Nimbu panni, only nimbu panni without the banana.

The guy was baffled and tongue-tied. Hesitatingly, he repeated again the only word or the only fruit that he had to offer, “Banana heey?” My patience went off. Infact i thought for a moment, was it somekind of local speciality that he insists to add the banana into the lemon juice and will it really taste good.

No, no, in whatever way, it doesn’t make any gastronomic sense for me!!

But this conversation was going nowhere, we were looping within the same, “banana?”, “No banana, only nimbu panni” exchange. I looked around for help and fortunately found Akash and his wife Lakshmi round the corner restarting after their break. I rushed to them and explained my situation. First, Laksmi felt the situation to be as strange as i had felt. After few exchanges with the shop-walla, she broke out in laughter.

The shop-walla wasn’t asking to sell either the banana or to put the banana in the lemon juice. He was just asking whether he can prepare it, which in Hindi could be properly asked as “banana?”

And that explains everything: why he was asking that again and again and why we were looping in our conversation. Every time that he wanted my confirmation to prepare(banana?), i was refusing but reaffirming again my order. Ah! I had tested the poor fellow a lot and made a mockery of the whole situation with my indifference to Hindi.

Finally, Akash couple reassured me that there will be no banana in the lemon juice and i gave my order, “”Nimbu panni bananaa heey”

It became a popular comedy with our group and with as many ones, it never failed to provoke copious outbursts of laughter. Prahalad, our young friend and room-mate found it to be extremely hilarious that he sort of became the official broadcaster of the comedy through the group.

After all that, for me, it was one more word learned in Hindi with extreme fun!