I had the good opportunity to work with rich and wealthy families there in Bombay as a private duty nurse. It was a learning experience and a great turning point in my life! People used to think that doing this kind of job was very demeaning!!

Well meaning people back home always filled the ears of my poor parents saying that they made a mistake of letting their unmarried daughter stay alone in a big bad city like Bombay.

Folks, let me tell you all something, if someone is not well grounded in life, no matter what, where you live, there is always the possibility to be in a pitfall and turn astray!

As for me, I had already made up my mind about helping and supporting my family for sometime as my bounden duty so I had to sacrifice any hopes of my interest to go further for BSc nursing in Vellore Christian Medical Hospital, which I could get easily sponsored by the mission hospital in Jorhat after my training and bond got over, if I wanted so..!!

So I really did not care what was being fed to my folks ears!! I gave a choice to them.. either go by their words or choose to put their trust in me for my work! They heard a lot about the bad stuffs happening in Bombay city so they were naturally worried!

Anyway, I worked in a 12 Hour shift for over 7 years and helped my siblings stand on their feet. Thanks in part to our good Manipuri rice and ngari ametpa, mairen, singju, yongchak, hawaijar, champhut etc and all other healthy traditional dishes we grow up with, that I am blessed with good health and without any major sickness, I was able to work good! Amen!!

And also the fact that we are born and brought up there in our beloved Manipur made it possible to for us to match other workers!!

Coming back to the ways of the city, well I learnt fast how to get on to a local train, how to navigate the masses that rush to work and the bakshish system! I never knew what it was!

The first patient I ever cared for was a Gujarati businessman who was dying of colon cancer! I gave him the best care I could!! But he had to be shifted to the ICU ! His family slipped in Rs. 500 in my hands as bakshish (tips) for good work and I was shaking with fear because it was a new system to me..!

I refused and told them to give it when the patient came out better from the ICU.. which he never did!! The other nurses cussed me out so much for refusing the bakshish(tips) and I was isolated so much due to this! They would not even talk to me!

Well now I can see how much people loved money! I was very happy with my earnings and the satisfaction from doing a job well!! The next time I had to accept bakshis as I did not want to be a pariah among fellow nurses.

I got to care for Gulf Arabs, Parsis, Marwaris, Sindhis, Punjabis, Gujaratis etc... I was exposed to many different foods of these communities. So from eating only Ironba, Ngari Morok metpa etc.. I got to taste Aloo dam, paneer tikha, biryani and all kinds of stuffs which I never came across in my life!!

I got to appreciate the experience very much!! Thats very unique about being born in India!! Some of the people I worked for are real filthy rich....!! They have very special kitchens in their underground basement.

I happened to eat marwari food in one of those amazing kitchens on a chandi ka thali(silver plates) which belonged to the Kores family. These rich families have their way of checking out their employees !!

Once they had kept their expensive diamond and precious rings lying near their dresser top just to see if I took it! How dumb can they get? I may come from a poor family but I got no use for such things so I found it vey amusing to see how some families are nutty about stuffs!!

They can keep all their riches and take it when they die!! It does not tempt me one bit! I got paid for my work and so thats it! I do my job and go my way!!

I found the Gujaratis, Marwari and Sindhis the most business savvy and good with their money. And the most stingiest too!! I happened to accompany an old Gujju lady to Kenya, Mombasa in '95 for 3 months. She was the most stubborn lady I ever met then.

I had to have breakfast when she did, before sunrise as she was a jain and after sunset.. I got so hungry in between because we are rice eaters and that Roti (flat bread) she gave me was not enough for me. Her daughter-in-law was aware of it but she was under her orders to follow whatever she commanded!

Anyway , they took me out to a non veg restaurant to eat with the old lady's permission. That place served crocodile meat! It scared the living daylights out of me when I saw how big those crocs were in their breeding place!!

I could not get myself to even taste it as I felt very odd to do that when my hosts themselves were vegans!! My old lady asked about my outing and I told her that I had great fun with her family!! Her frugal nature came to the fore when I needed a toothpaste, she told me to bring the tube.

Lo and behold! she rolled that tube with a belan (rolling pin) and tried to squeeze as much as she could out of that tube and gave it to me to use !!

Her daughter-in-law felt embarrassed in front of me and commented that her ma-in-law was a makhi-choos (sucked like a mosquito). We wanted to laugh out loud but looking at her seriousness, we decided not to in her interest!! I still keep in touch with them!!