Moving into the 5th week of my project, I thought a survey was needed to understand the target audience (which includes any living soul in Ahmedabad city). Yes, it’s important to conduct a survey to figure out the minds of the residents of this city!
So I enter this beautiful garden (the existence of which I figured out after 1 year and 7 months of living in this place) and look for a bakra. Everyone seems happy doing their own thing…kids going up and down on the see saw, gujju turned mod aunties trying to lose weight, old people gossiping and ofcourse, the lovers doing their bit in obscure little corners. I decide to catch hold of the first few people I find and get done with the bloody survey. If answered accurately, each questionnaire had five questions, and as per my calculations it wouldn’t take more than two minutes. I get these weird glares from them. I’m sure they’re wondering what’s this girl doing with a pen and paper in hand when she should be with a guy in one of those corners.
After being turned down by a few not so gentle men and women, a sweet looking uncle agreed to oblige me and help me out for the sake of humanity. So I start off with my 2 minute survey. Before I start, I am informed about how lucky I am that he has two well educated children who handle the business, leaving him free time to answer pests like me. I smile. Before knowing his occupation, it’s necessary for me to know that he has been to the U.S. of A nine times in the past ten years. “Have you been involved in any kind of social work?”, I ask timidly. Oh! he would love to, u know, but well, he’s in Australia four months in a year. And then since he loves his wife, he takes her on a trip abroad twice a year. This year he celebrated his 35th wedding anniversary in Mauritius and spent Christmas in Colombo and partied in Candy on New Year’s eve and stayed in a Hotel Bat…(forget the name now) which, as I should have guessed by now, was the most expensive 5 star hotel with a gorgeous jacujji (so he pronounced!). It was so beautiful that he decided to extend his stay by 5 days after taking special permission. I kept the fake smile intact, looking over his shoulder at the lucky kids playing merrily in the sand. He continued to educate me about the flora, fauna, food and people of Sri Lanka. I decided to move on to the next question and asked if he had heard of a disability called deafblindness. “Yes, you see, when I was in Europe………………………………….!!!” My receptive senses shut at that point of time but I do remember hearing the words Paris, Rome, Italy and London at regular intervals. I continue to nod. Two minutes turn in to twenty and I’m still listening to how he went gallivanting across the globe and wondering where social work and deafblindness fit into all this. Finally, he realizes I’ve wasted too much of his time and he needs to get going. He was expecting a call from New York, you see!
I look up, perplexed. It was getting dark. Maybe I too should head back. So much for surveys and questionnaires, I’m studying the Atlas instead!
(P.S.: if any one plans to go to Dubal for the shopping festival, beware! You might just bump into Uncle there.)
