California Diary: India's Famous Export

There's an Armenian grocery shop near home. If its something minor we usually buy it from here. The other day we had dropped by the store after work. After finishing with our list, I asked the lady at the counter if she had had any salted butter. She asked me to repeat that a few times and then with a confused look on her face called for her daughter. After conversing in their lingo, the daughter turned to me & asked- 'You want salted WATER?'. :-) Well! after a smile and a laugh, the elderly lady asked us if we were Iraqi's? On our revelation that we were Indians, the beautiful daughter asked us how we spoke such good english. I then launched into a lengthy discourse on how the educational system is one good thing our former British rulers left behind. She then said she's a big fan of Raj Kapoor. I wasn't that surprised because I knew that Raj Kapoor had a major following in the erstwhile Soviet Union. But in this day & time to hear about an Indian man of a previous generation, forgotten by most Indian youth and being spoken of in endearing terms was pleasing.