It was late evening, 9 pm.
I was on a brisk walk to the market to buy some bread for the next morning.
Somehow the colony street lights were off and it was pitch dark all the way.
I was greeted by my usual group of happy-go-lucky Indian street dogs and I stole a few minutes of play with them to de-stress myself for the day.
While we were engrossed in our play, a sudden loud nasty growl from the dark made me jump from my skin. In quick action I looked around and readied to flee from a violent beast attack.
I heard the growl again.
I tried to Scan and Blink in the dark, a ninja technique to optimize night vision.
I could see no angry animal around.
Then, in the dark, leaning against the trunk of a tree I barely noticed the silhouette of a thin 5 foot small, Indian male.
I could hear him smacking his mouth and chewing "chabbaving" his paan (beetle leaf).
I heard the growl one more time... the terrible sound came from where he stood.
Hah ! Now I recognised this sound.
It was the typical sound of release of gas from the digestive tract through the mouth.
It was the belching sound that I so abhorred!
It was just an Indian male savoring his after-ate- BURP !
Indians specialise in loud unashamed belching. Strange are the cultures of different parts of the world.
I praised the lord for little mercies.
For the first time in my life I was glad it was the sound effect of the repulsive belch by the Indian male.
Gosh ! some times in life, the kind of luck that one has to be grateful for...!
I hugged the dogs in relief and proceeded to the market and bought the bread for breakfast.
But the repulsive belch .... continued to ring in my ears.
After a couple of hours I realised.....
I may have been spared of an attack by a beast
but in my ears the awful belch was on repeat !
I wondered....
May be it would have been easier on me to have dealt with the beast.
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I was on a brisk walk to the market to buy some bread for the next morning.
Somehow the colony street lights were off and it was pitch dark all the way.
I was greeted by my usual group of happy-go-lucky Indian street dogs and I stole a few minutes of play with them to de-stress myself for the day.
While we were engrossed in our play, a sudden loud nasty growl from the dark made me jump from my skin. In quick action I looked around and readied to flee from a violent beast attack.
I heard the growl again.
I tried to Scan and Blink in the dark, a ninja technique to optimize night vision.
I could see no angry animal around.
Then, in the dark, leaning against the trunk of a tree I barely noticed the silhouette of a thin 5 foot small, Indian male.
I could hear him smacking his mouth and chewing "chabbaving" his paan (beetle leaf).
I heard the growl one more time... the terrible sound came from where he stood.
Hah ! Now I recognised this sound.
It was the typical sound of release of gas from the digestive tract through the mouth.
It was the belching sound that I so abhorred!
It was just an Indian male savoring his after-ate- BURP !
Indians specialise in loud unashamed belching. Strange are the cultures of different parts of the world.
Gosh ! some times in life, the kind of luck that one has to be grateful for...!
I hugged the dogs in relief and proceeded to the market and bought the bread for breakfast.
But the repulsive belch .... continued to ring in my ears.
After a couple of hours I realised.....
I may have been spared of an attack by a beast
but in my ears the awful belch was on repeat !
I wondered....
May be it would have been easier on me to have dealt with the beast.
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