Tales and travails of the balti people
ASK any Indian and he/she will tell you that taking a dip in a river, a lake or even a pond is refreshing and spiritually uplifting. But when it comes to taking a bath, there is nothing to beat the balti-mug combination.
This revelation came to me as I prepared for my posting to Zimbabwe. I had called my predecessor in Harare for a briefing on the country, our bilateral relations and the Ambassador’s residence. My colleague went down the list. Then he gave a tantalising pause and whispered, “The bathroom has a heated floor…” What luxury, I thought. “But it has no shower,” he added.
“No?” I asked in surprise. “No,” he repeated, “it only has a bathtub and you know we Indians are balti people. We like our bucket and mug to take a bath with running water.”
“How do you manage?” I asked, fearful of the details. “I place my balti in the tub, fill it with water, climb in and that’s how I take my bath.” As I was mulling over the travails Indian diplomats have to go through in foreign lands in the line of duty, he issued a warning, “Be sure to bring your own bucket and mug because I will be taking away mine.”
Thus it was that I landed in Harare with half-a-dozen baltis and colour-coordinated plastic mugs for every bathroom — just in case my guests needed them!
The balti played a role in many of my postings. I recalled the time in Kabul when it proved to be a lifeline. During the conflict between the Mujahideen and the Russian forces, a power station was hit, disrupting electricity and water supply. Consequently, officers and staff members would make a beeline for the embassy to fill their baltis from the one tap with running water. This went on for a few days until power was restored.
The balti had popped up in the late 1970s during then Indian PM’s State visit to Moscow. Weeks before the tour, the embassy received, as per convention, a list of items required by the VVIP guest and party. The Russians were bewildered by many items on the list, starting from “red carrots grown in winter in northern India” to karahi and tava, and the last item(s) — balti and mug. The balti, when translated as a bucket, made sense to them, but they hadn’t the foggiest idea what a mug was. They produced a beer mug, asking if that would do. No amount of sketches or creative description would help. Ultimately, most items were air-lifted from India.
After a highly successful visit, when we went to thank the Russians, they had one request : could we, possibly, leave behind the balti and mug as they were expecting a VVIP visitor from Asia? We complied readily because in addition to being the balti people, we also follow the dictum, “adjust kar lo”!
Musings