Lauren

Harry Potter & the Foreigner Didi

It’s the school summer holidays in India, it’s too hot for the school bus and too hot for algebra. There are two little boys that live next door to my in-laws and they both love playing with Alfonso. I’ve known these kids for nearly two years now, they call me “Lauren didi“. Didi means “elder sister” in Hindi. A couple of months ago the younger boy, who is four years old, must have heard someone refer to me as a foreigner. After knowing him for well over a year, he suddenly called me “foreigner didi“! He scooted towards me on his lime green scooter, with a huge beaming smile on his face, and said, “hello, foreigner didi“. He seemed pretty proud of himself as he zoomed away, leaving me with my jaw dropped.

So, school is out for summer and the boys elder sister, their didi, is visiting Nagpur. She was too scared to play with Alfonso, instead she asked me about the books I like to read.

“Do you like books?”

“I love books!”

“Have you read Harry Potter”

“Yes, I have”

“Have you read all of them?”

“Yes, twice!”

“Me too, I love Harry Potter!”

“Harry Potter is from the same country as I am from!”

“Wooooow, really!”

The little girl’s eyes lit up when I told her that I belonged to the same country as her favourite fictional character. On the other side of the room, playing with Alfonso, the elder of the two little boys was listening to our conversation and seemed very concerned.

“Lauren didi, is Voldemort from your country also?”, the little boy asked.

“Yes, he is! Scary huh?”

He stared at me blankly for a while, frowned, gulped and quickly wiped the horror from his face with a small smile. I can only imagine he was thinking, “woah, I shouldn’t get on the wrong side of Lauren didi then”.

***

Check out my Instagram for daily updates and discussions!

43 comments

  1. Lauren didi, Hermione is also from your country..She is the first gal I fell for..
    Kindly tell her that she is very very beautiful.

    Like

    • Marghini!! I just checked out your blog to see if you are my didi, but it seems we were both born 1989.

      I am October….

      Soooo, is it Lauren didi or Marghini didi? 😛 xx

      P.S. Your blog is GORGEOUS!

      Like

  4. “Woah, I shouldn’t get on the wrong side of Lauren didi then” – Hehehe good one 🙂 I would probably feel upset if someone called me “foreigner didi” instead of by my name + didi, but I guess kids pick up what they hear from others and one shouldn’t take these things to heart…

    Like

    • Hehe, yes, I was very shocked but he has been calling me Lauren didi for ages so I knew he must have picked it up from an adult 😛
      He hasn’t done it since xx

      Like

  5. Kids say the darnedest things… Lol. They sound super cute. I’m jealous now. No cool characters are from my country. Well actually that’s not true, Santa is from Canada 😉

    Allyce

    Like

  8. @ Lauren

    I just found out that you are way younger to me. I guess I will start calling “little sister lauren” lol. I hope u don’t mind. I guess “bhaiya friend” also sounds endearing.

    Like

  10. Oh no! They went from Lauren didi to Foreigner didi… 😦 That would feel a bit bad. 😦
    The only strange thing I have been called was “Ma’am” by a little girl. I didn’t feel old enough to be a “Ma’am”

    DN’s niece calls me “Cristy Aunty” haha for now anyway. When we marry, I’ll be chachi to her 😀

    Like

  11. Poor kids ! btw, what do they call “younger sister” ? because you are not “a didi ” to me as i was born in 1986.
    Lauren, you blog makes me to love India more and more, day by day……….
    ( There is some “chemistry”, I cant understand , between me and India )

    Like

  12. Lauren, what about if your younger sisters start addressing you as Lauren didi. 🙂

    Like

  13. Hi Lauren, I just discovered your blog and read all you articles. So much fun to read and very recognizable! I came to India 2 months ago to be with my Indian boyfriend/fiance, and I find it very helpful to read these stories 🙂 I still struggle with getting around in the city (I live in Bangalore) and how to behave with a maid around in the house.

    Like

    • Dear Anita,
      Thank you so much for your kind message! Good luck with your new life in India!!
      Yess, those two things are very tricky. With time you get comfortable with the maids but I am still struggling with the getting around part!!
      There are lots of expats in Bangalore, if you join internations you may be able to connect with some!

      I hope you are well and having a good monsoon! Lots of love xx

      Like

  15. My husband’s name is Deepak and I call him ‘Didi’, but he doesn’t mind. Somehow it sounded like a perfect shortname for him, before I learned what it means of course ;p

    Don’t the kids call you “Gori didi” sometimes? 🙂

    Like

  17. You should visit Shimla my state’s capital. It was the summer capital for Britishers as they too could not cope with the heat waves 🙂
    also I loved so much your story that I read almost everything in one night.
    good luck to you and Bhaiya 🙂 ..stay blessed ..

    Like

Comments are closed.