Guess, no other human being would have ever landed up in a language class by accident...
FLASH BACK...
The story goes like this - I was in my 1st std. at YMCA, Pondicherry (the school is extinct now though)... and was as usual arattai aduchufying and attentionless in the class... and dhideer nu teacher edho kekka, oru 4 pasanga and ponnunga stood up... and the class became silent... I was shocked by the silence and looked around and also stood up... and they noted the names of the students who stood after the teacher posed the question... sandoshama S. Arun Prakash nu name sollitu vandhutten...
Next day - Tamil period, teacher calls out a few names and my name and asks us to go to the terrace for Hindi class... thus started my Hindi lessons...
Me: Appa, school la miss enna Hindi class ku join panna solli scale aala adichaanga pa.
Appa: Ennadhu, adichaangala? (Thinks) Seri, parava illa , nee Hindi kathukko, Viji (my sister) tamil padikattum...
"Flash front" to 2008... Ipdiyaaga aarambichadhu ennoda Hindi as a second language...Ada raama... apdeenu Hindi padichu, +2 la school second um vaangi... college la join panni Bombay ku oru trip dhairiyama ponen, with my friend...
Flash back again - March, 1996... I was travelling in the butter-jam-sardine-packed metro train between Goregaon to Churchgate and was to get down at Andheri en route... and I did not know which side of the train the platform was supposed to be... as it kinda kept changing between stations... I decided and asked someone who cd possibly know... and did not understand the Hindi and was standing at the exactly opposite gate where the station platform was at... and missed getting down at Andheri... missed and before I realized and went back to the opposite door to get off at the next station, 3 stations had already passed and I explained in my horrible Hindi to the fellow passengers about my plight... they said - haa haa Andheri mein uthaarna thaa!! and started LOL...
Apram in the hanging gardens of Mumbai, my friend and I were walking around, unable to find the route to reach there, ended up getting lost and finally I brought up the courage to ask a small shop in the locality and explained that we are new to the place and we are looking to go to hanging gardens in my broken Hindi... and after I finished, the shopkeeper replies - ennaga Tamil aa? Neraa poyi right la thirumbunga (go straight and turn right)... and my friend was rolling on the ground with laughter...
And another story, in 2000 at Hyderabad... I go to receive a friend at Hyd railway station and we hired an autorickshaw to go to my home... and the auto driver goes blah... blah... blah... yada yada yada in Hindi-Urdu... and both of us had no clue what he was saying... and we were just answering, haanji, naheemji... and my friend was getting increasingly bugged... he decided to put an end to it with the three words that he knew in Hindi... all that he knew was Doodh, Kahaan Jaatha Hai... so he phrased this sentence... Yeh Doodh Kahaan Jaatha Hai... the auto driver slowed down and looked back at us and kept silent for the rest of the journey... PEACE!!!
pouring out stories abt me, my experiences, recipes of what i like to cook, my opinions about what i see around... etc. etc.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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