Ek gaon mein...
Ten days out of Tamil Nadu is enough to make even those comfortable with Hindi sweat a bit. But ten days of kadichu thuppufying Hindi, framing "shudhdh" sentences in your brain and saying something so totally different that you see ur Hindi Teacher's face clearly in your mind, slapping her forehead and clenching her teeth in anguish, is enough to make you forget Tamil for a while. In fact, the first thing I said when I landed at Chennai Central was "Hey!! Everyone's speaking tamil!"
But some instances of "Ek Gaon Mein Ek Kisaan Raghu Thaatha" stay clearly in your mind. Like at the hotel in Mahabaleshwar.
We'd arranged for breakfast, and they served coffee along with it. A few coffee-haters (yup, they exist!) wanted plain milk instead. Andy (remember him from the Ascendas episode?) ushaar pannified a cup of milk and sat and drank it with a very contented smile on his face. If he had whiskers, I'd have half expected him to say meow after polishing the cup off.
That's when G, another classmate, observed that it was possible to get milk. He went around asking people who wanted plain milk, probably to gather company in case the hotel staff snubbed him. (Naah, I'm kidding.. he was just being helpful!) After a couple of rounds around the dining tables, he figured he had two more for company.
And so he went up to the waiting hotel staff, and said, "Moonu paal kudunga". The chap blinked back. G hesitated, and repeated once more.. "moonu paal?". More blinking. That's when realisation dawned on him. "Ada cha!", he slapped his forehead, "ivanga kitta hindi la pesanam la!!".
He restated his reqest with renewed vigour. "Theen paal please".
Comments
But some instances of "Ek Gaon Mein Ek Kisaan Raghu Thaatha" stay clearly in your mind. Like at the hotel in Mahabaleshwar.
We'd arranged for breakfast, and they served coffee along with it. A few coffee-haters (yup, they exist!) wanted plain milk instead. Andy (remember him from the Ascendas episode?) ushaar pannified a cup of milk and sat and drank it with a very contented smile on his face. If he had whiskers, I'd have half expected him to say meow after polishing the cup off.
That's when G, another classmate, observed that it was possible to get milk. He went around asking people who wanted plain milk, probably to gather company in case the hotel staff snubbed him. (Naah, I'm kidding.. he was just being helpful!) After a couple of rounds around the dining tables, he figured he had two more for company.
And so he went up to the waiting hotel staff, and said, "Moonu paal kudunga". The chap blinked back. G hesitated, and repeated once more.. "moonu paal?". More blinking. That's when realisation dawned on him. "Ada cha!", he slapped his forehead, "ivanga kitta hindi la pesanam la!!".
He restated his reqest with renewed vigour. "Theen paal please".
Comments
..and so rambled Harish at
7:00 AM
