I was the acting beast of burden for my mom the other day near kapaleeshwar kovil, where exists a large vegetable market (mandi). My mom was complaining about the rising prices of tomatoes, beans, and rice among others, while the shopkeepers were shouting their prices at the top of their voices.
I wasnt the only mule around - almost every mom was accompanied by a highly disinterested son or husband whose sole purpose was to carry the bags. (earlier : "no ma, i cant come with you, ive got work to do". mom - "im getting old! i do so much! no one helps out!! ... blah!!". me - "okokokokokok... il come". mom - "great!")
Anyways, we were talking about all the chaos 'the inflation' has caused in its wake, and stopped at a seller's cart. He was quoting a price per kilo which was Rs 5 more than what my mom bought stuff for the previous week. She started arguing, and the seller returned fire.
seller - Adhellam yinfayshin ma (All that is because of the yinfayshin, lady)
mom - no dude, no way. im paying you what i paid last week
seller - its not my price lady,its yinfayshin
mom - what?
seller - YIN-FAY-SHIN
mom - (at me) whats he saying??
me - what??
seller - the prices rising lady, YINFAYSHIN
Wisdom dawned. INFLATION. the semi literate seller was trying to explain to us that his extraordinary markup on vegetables was because of the inflation.
What is noteworthy here is the power of media. Turns out that news and events transmitted thru english and regional language channels have a wide reaching audience which not only digests news, but is also discerning and relates to the news items it is familiar with. we settled the bill somewhere in the middle of what mom wanted to pay, and what he wanted her to pay.
The power of media is reaching new heights. If only we could use it to disseminate knowledge where its needed most....
I wasnt the only mule around - almost every mom was accompanied by a highly disinterested son or husband whose sole purpose was to carry the bags. (earlier : "no ma, i cant come with you, ive got work to do". mom - "im getting old! i do so much! no one helps out!! ... blah!!". me - "okokokokokok... il come". mom - "great!")
Anyways, we were talking about all the chaos 'the inflation' has caused in its wake, and stopped at a seller's cart. He was quoting a price per kilo which was Rs 5 more than what my mom bought stuff for the previous week. She started arguing, and the seller returned fire.
seller - Adhellam yinfayshin ma (All that is because of the yinfayshin, lady)
mom - no dude, no way. im paying you what i paid last week
seller - its not my price lady,its yinfayshin
mom - what?
seller - YIN-FAY-SHIN
mom - (at me) whats he saying??
me - what??
seller - the prices rising lady, YINFAYSHIN
Wisdom dawned. INFLATION. the semi literate seller was trying to explain to us that his extraordinary markup on vegetables was because of the inflation.
What is noteworthy here is the power of media. Turns out that news and events transmitted thru english and regional language channels have a wide reaching audience which not only digests news, but is also discerning and relates to the news items it is familiar with. we settled the bill somewhere in the middle of what mom wanted to pay, and what he wanted her to pay.
The power of media is reaching new heights. If only we could use it to disseminate knowledge where its needed most....
