Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Dravidian Girl and Indo-Aryan Boy

[I overheard few words]
[DG]: ... Kumbha Mela ...
[IAB]: It's Kumbh .. Kumbh
[DG]: Yeah, yeah, whatever ...
[I]: [Attagirl! always end a word with a vowel.]

Monday, December 22, 2014

Beyond Humility

[She] : Excuse me, where is ...?
[I]: It's not in this lane, maybe you should try the lane parallel to this.
[She]: But I was told it's somewhere here
[I]: Hmm... this one is ... and that one is ... I guess you need to check the parallel lane
[She]: So, you are not sure
[I]: I mean it's not in this lane but yes, I'm not sure...
[She]: Okay, I'll ask the shopkeeper then
[I]: Sure
[She]: Thank you
[I]: Uh...No problem
[I parked the car and while getting down saw her walking towards the parallel lane]
[I went inside the house and after some time I came out to buy something from the shop across the road]
[I found her returning to the same lane and again checking the buildings around and talking over the phone]
[Shall I?]
[One can buy this thing for as cheap as Rs. 5000  and provides so much independence so, why wouldn't she buy one?]
[I]: Excuse me ...
[She] Yes ...[over the phone] Just a minute, I'll get back to you
[I]: It says you have to go straight in this lane, cross the junction and at the T-junction ahead, it's on your left

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Heterosexual eating partners

What makes two men feel comfortable with each other? Probably, the tougher question is what makes two men feel awkward with each other? When we observe people around us, we either feel at home or neutral. We may start disliking some after we know them more intimately but what if we feel certain coolness with people whom we meet for the first time? Do we sense a potential romantic rival? Could be, but what if the feeling is mutual?

One drawback of forming a group is that it brings our other friends into the equation. Now, you need not feel friendly with your friend's friend. That was what happened when my on and off lunch eating group included a person with whom I wasn't much acquainted. As I mentioned before, most of them had become lunch boxers but once in a while they wouldn't get their boxes and I'd get the company. That's how I met this colleague who also sometimes wouldn't bring his lunch box.

We hardly conversed when others were around. But at one time, as his family was out of station, he had to come down to the cafeteria to have his food for few weeks consecutively. During that time, it used to be only him and me giving company. There was nothing to talk. There was always an awkward silence when we had our food. Considering my reflection of myself as not so sociable animal, I would bring up one or two topics with great difficulty. But that would end in couple of sentences worsening the awkwardness. It was a torture for me as I thought it was my responsibility to do some small talk and it would tax my mind coming up with topics.

Then one day, when it was just us, he sat down in the chair diagonally opposite to me. That would never happen. You would always sit in the chair directly opposite to the other in general. So, the next day,  I took my lunch delivery after him and made it a point to sit down diagonally opposite to him. On the third day, he took the lunch delivery after me but sat directly opposite to me. Thus the awkwardness of having to watch or avoid each other's face restored.

This continued for several months. We not only gave company for lunch but sometimes even went for snacks in the evenings together (of course, most of  time there were others). One day, when it was just the two of us for evening snacks, out of the blue he asked me what I was planning to have. I said something. He just sponsored me. I didn't know how to react. We always went dutch. So, the very next day, I sponsored him. There ended our sponsoring friendship. I thought probably he was also trying to overcome the awkwardness in our eating friendship. However, that hasn't changed much between us. It's more than a year now. Possibly, we do talk more than couple of sentences. However, the awkwardness is still there.

I've observed his worldviews are much different from mine. He is a believer. However, I do get along with people who are like that. But people who don't hold the same views as mine, still are interested in subjects that I'm interested. He isn't. Do we instinctively detect that we differ intellectually and therefore the awkwardness? 

Thursday, November 6, 2014

ಕನಸೆಂಬ ದ್ರೋಹಿ

ಖಾತ್ರಿಯೇನು ಅಸಲೆಂದು ಉಳಿದವೆಲ್ಲ ?
ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಅವಳು ಅವಳಲ್ಲ
ನಾನು ನಾನಲ್ಲ

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Long lost

Two colleagues working in the same office for the past 14 years meet one day at pantry.

[Both] : Oh! You are still here!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

In the land of Tulu tribes - II

Mangaluru
1. The roads are still lined with open gutters on either side. It feels like driving on the edge. I suppose life in Mangalore is always on the edge. It's just that either you fall into a gutter or manoeuvre yourself away from one.

2. I was surprised to see dominance of non-localites ran eateries on a beach side. I mean the quality of food was horribly bad and the localites do have a reputation for serving better quality food. Why then not many competing with them? I could find many smaller 'charamuri(charamburi)', a snack made of puffed rice, stalls run by Tuluvas. So, it's not that the small scale of these joints isn't favoured by them. I'm kind of a person who gets irritated by sun, sand and sea. It's only the eateries around make me feel rejuvenated. And the beach was a big disappointment.

3. Mangalore has been in the news for moral policing. I had a first hand observation of this phenomenon. I overheard a woman on the beach loudly shouting in Tulu, "Shameless creatures! Didn't they even get a towel to wrap around their waist? Just look at them roaming around in this state." When I looked around I found couple of men walking by wearing only soakingly wet panties.

4. It appears grandmothers of Tulu region no longer liked to be addressed as 'grandmother' in local lingo. In Tulu, it's either 'dodda' or 'ajji'. However, in it's place they are making their grandchildren to call them 'ammamma'. This is the exact northern Malayali term for grandmother. Maybe common origin is expressing itself after few generations.

5. This year also I continued my unscientific survey of popularity of different Ice-cream flavours. The last year survey results were:
 gudbud : 15
 dilkush : 5
 parfait: 12
 others: negligible
This year:
gudbud: 6
dilkush: 5
parfait: 15
others: 27

others: Other big ones, not counting single scoops and slices.

It appears Parfait popularity is still strong. I must say, two decades ago it was mostly Gudbud and Dilkush. I think Gudbud is losing its popularity and Dilkush is continuing its low stagnant state. But to my surprise other flavours are gaining ground. Unfortunately, I'm still into those three flavours, I couldn't recognize them. Somehow, I feel Tiramisu is gaining over others.

It could be also that, a decade or two ago, eating Ice-cream was a rare phenomenon, hence, eating the popular ones every time could have been a renewed feeling. But nowadays, eating Ice-cream might have become a regular ritual and thus other flavours are being experimented with.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Waking up to tomorrow

Both my daughter and niece (about the same age) haven't grasped the concept of tomorrow. Interestingly, both explain it as 'after I sleep and getup'.

I suppose both have grasped the concept but were not able to map it to the term 'tomorrow'. 

Friday, March 14, 2014

Mango Connoisseur

At a supermarket you find mangoes that you want to taste. You go to the stall and find a fellow buyer smelling some of them but leave without taking any. Then you see a bald headed man coming to your direction. You pick a mango and start smelling it. He comes and smells some of them and looks at you and says with a smile, "Not going to be tasty. Are they?". You say, "Yeah, Yeah". He leaves and then a couple descend upon the place and they start smelling but don't pick any and leave. You continue with your smelling façade all through it. And then when you are alone, you quietly pick few of them and leave.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Explaining Death

Last night my daughter asked me about death. She was wondering why she had never seen 'ajja' , my father. I explained he wasn't feeling well, his body functions stopped, he stopped breathing, went into a never waking sleep. Not sure how much she understood.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Convention

The other day, my daughter had dictation of numbers. She wrote eight out of twenty, that were given, in reverse. She used to do it once in a while but not to that extent. I went through the articles online dealing with this and few of them mentioned that children's ability to distinguish between left and right wasn't developed fully until they were five to six years old.

That took me to the conversation I had with my four year old few days ago. She asked me to confirm her left and right hand (even though  she's generally correct with these two directions). I showed her. She wanted to know who told me that or how I knew that. I said it was a 'convention'. Our conversation was in Kasaragod Malayalam and all of a sudden I had to use an English term which she had no idea. She just repeated my word and kept quiet. I had no idea how to explain the term 'convention' in Malayalam and let it pass.

Here comes my limitation with the language. I made a point to talk to her in Malayalam even though my grasp over the language was only passable. My intention was to gradually switch over to English which I thought wouldn't be possible if I were to speak to her in Kannada, which I speak with mother-tongue fluency, from the beginning. Also, exposure to multiple languages from childhood hasn't given me any kind of advantage and on the contrary I always felt I lacked the proficiency in any single language because of it. There could be other reasons for my lack of complete grasp in any single language but I didn't want to take any chance with this respect too.

It seems children imitate their fathers' speech until they are four years old. I suppose it was something to do with limited vocabulary and simple sentences that males use as compared to females. I'm not sure whether that was a credible study or not but  I read it in the National Geographic's Geo magazine. Nevertheless, I'm afraid that's more or less true in my family as my daughter's fluency in the language appears to match mine and not my wife's who is a native speaker of the language.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Oblivious Realization - 2

It has been nearly five years since I wrote about them. The father, the mother, and the daughter who spoke Kannada. Their regular presence on the street next to my house has been my regular observational ritual. It's as if nothing has changed in the last ten  years. However, in the last few months I didn't see them for very long. I thought it's strange since they were like people who would disappear from that locality only upon their death. Their presence has made my presence on that street ancient. I wondered if one of them would be permanently missing when I see them next time. The other day, I saw only the mother and daughter(as I'd identified them). But nowadays I don't see them regularly. Will I again become new to that street as they fade away?

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Staged Inspiration

She walked to the podium with a determined look. She was to perform Bharatanatyam to a packed auditorium. The Tamilatti started dancing to a Kannada song, "Krishna nee begane baro". He smirked at the horrible diction of the Kannada lyrics. Must be a Tamilatti, he thought. As the dance progressed he observed  that there was no synchronization between the song and the dance moves. Though it was a silly song, he felt, at least, it was from a time when both sexes wore similar dresses and adorned themselves with similar jewellery. In present era, only females could dance to this song written in praise of a male god.Or, maybe patriarchy hadn't entered into this art. His train of thoughts were interrupted when the song ended. Soon a Telugu song started playing and the danseuse continued her performance.

He looked around. Some people were nodding and thought smugly that many were watching with dazed attention. All of a sudden, the music stopped. It appeared as if there was a power outage. People started murmuring. The dancer made a hand gesture for people to be seated and resumed her dancing without the music. Now some people started clapping in appreciation. She continued and now started dancing by kneeling and bending close to the ground. He couldn't watch anything as the first two rows were on their feet. This strange spectacle continued for another five minutes. There was a huge applause once the show was over. Then he heard one guy exclaiming,"Wow! I didn't know that this was preplanned. There was no actual power cut. A brilliant lesson on keeping your cool under adverse conditions. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!".

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Sin, Damnation and the Pope

There were pillars and curtains and possibly we were inside a room. The room was resplendent in reddish yellow as if twilight sky was flowing inside. There were men and women. I was one of them. I suppose there were three women.

We crossed the rooms and entered a hall. There were tables and chairs. We struck up a conversation. The desire was growing. She whispered something that I wanted to hear. I turned to her and saw her completely uncovered. I lifted her in my arms. She clasped me around my neck with her legs around my hips. I gripped her with my right hand and covered her exposed shame with my left hand palm and ran out of the hall. My finger felt something.

I ran and crossed few rooms on my right and came across a gate. The gate opened to a road. I crossed the road and entered a room. That was not our room. I remembered that was the third room and I should be moving to the second. So I moved still carrying her and when I was inside the room, dropped her on to the bed. When I moved I saw other two women entering the room. They said they wanted to join.

It  was a circular arena with reddish soil. I was watching it as though sitting in a Colosseum. A priest was running with a parchment paper half his length. He was shouting "The Leviticus, The Leviticus". The pope was after him saying 'not that scripture, not that scripture'. He was panting and so was I. Now nothing was coming out of his month but he was feeling a strong weight on his chest making it difficult for him to breathe. I was feeling the same. I thought I should calm down and hold my breath for some time. However, even after few moments I wasn't able to breathe. I tried to breathe forcefully and woke up violently and then started breathing normally.