Auntie!! Auntie!!

I've grown to really love my neighborhood.  It is a very mixed neighborhood.  I live in a concrete building, and there are others on my street.  But across from me is a thatch roof shack, and on the main road is a mini slum.  Some houses have motorbikes, and a few have cars.  I have running water (no hot water) but there is also a few communcal pumps on my street where people get water and bath a little and brush teeth.  There are chickens, roosters, dogs, cows, cats (gross) and lots of crows. 

The streets are lined with little stalls that all sell the same things; veggies, milk, spices, biscuits, pop, rice, lentils, beans, chips, eggs, etc.  There are at least 3 shrines that I've noticed.  There is also a school, 2 motorbike repair shops, some tailors, some barber shops, tea stalls, a few jewlery/pawn shops and one place that i think sells ice cream, although i haven't tried it.  There is a man who does ironing right outside my house.  He has a heavy metal iron that he fills with burning coals to provide the heat.  I'll try to take pics soon, I promise!

In the early morning, when I'm walking on my roof, I hear the roosters start up. Then the vendors kick in, yelling about their offerings.  As I head out for my run, women are gathering water from the pump.  As I return, they are running around buying veggies and milk to cook for the day.  When I leave for work, everyone is going to school.  Kids, in Indian school uniforms, walk to school, ride their bikes, or ride on the back/front/side of their father's motorbikes.  This is usually a pretty hectic scene.  As I walk to the bus stop, kids are always yelling at me, "auntie, auntie!!" When I look, they wave and do this salute that I've learned is something they teach in school.  "Good moring!" they say, as they stand at attention.  I always wave or sometimes salute back, which makes them laugh. 

This morning, the kids looked more excited than normal, and one of the ladies came running into the street, motioning for me to come over.  So I stopped by their house where 2 ladies and a few children were waiting and smiling.  One of the women came out with some flowers to put in my hair.  Everyone was so happy!  None of the ladies speak English, and the kids are little (under 6 I'd say) but can speak a little bit of English.  They asked if I wanted drumsticks, which is a vegetable and I said I dont know how to cook that!   So I then showed them what I cooked for lunch (today I cooked a bean dish), they seemed to approve but kept asking where is the rice?  Then they asked where I work (Nungambakkam) and what is my salary?  I said nothing.  They looked puzzled.  So I said zero, they said 2 zeros?  3 zeros?  I said, no, zero, nothing.  they said, ten?  I laughed and said zero again, and the little kid repeated to the ladies, "ZERO!"  I dont think there's any way I can explain this to them!