All of us have an adventure when we're on long distance flights. Especially if you have funny people sitting beside you on these long hauls.
I was heading for Paris from Madras by Air France (which the french pronounce 'Fronse'). Anyways, it was a 10 hr flight, leaving madras at something like 1 am. There were a horde of students headed to the US to do their MS. I met 3 people from my college there, which is blogpost material in itself, but the people who ended up sitting next to me are the post-centric topic.
The guy on my right was working for cooper industries, married, and the usual indian emigrant. The girl on my left is the inspiration for this post. She spent half her time sleeping, so i cuddnt really break the ice. When she did wake up, I dint see any enthu to open a conversation from her side, so i threw open a line.
'So, ur headed to the US to do ur MS too ?'\
Girl - 'enakku tamil matrum fronse mattum thaan theriyum' (i know only tamil and french)
ZONK. what ??, hang on, did i miss something ?? is this a bad excuse to not have a conversation with me ?
yep. sounds like that. But then, i dont give up easy.
me - 'neenga US ku mel padippu panna porengala ?' (headed to the US for higher studies ?)
Tamil French Girl (TFG) - 'Oh! Tamil theriyuma ungaluku ?' (hey! u know tamil!!)
(the conversation represented in english henceforth for the benefit of my worldwiode audience)
me - 'yeah yeah, im from madras, lady. was brought up there..'
tfg - 'oh alright! i was in madras for 7 years before my family shifted to paris. I studied in a tamil medium school, and then shifted to paris, where I dint have an english medium education. sorry if i startled you!'
me - 'oh no, its just that i havent met anyone whos bilingual and doesnt talk english!'
tfg - 'blah blah'
me - 'blah blah blah'
(and then the casual 'state of the world' talk, the 'tamil vs hindi' VS 'english vs french' talk, and the 'pink panther' talk)
I made a good friend on the plane, and theres nothing of note in the rest of the conversation, except that i found it very hard to talk in tamil alone, and not use a single word of english.
That just goes to show that im a victim of the cultural genocide. I dont know what my first language is, english, or tamil. ive never bothered to learn to read or write tamil, a fact which im not very comfortable with. Its one of those rare moments when I agree with politicians fighting for the compulsory tamil education in schools.
The reason software is released in spanish, french, and other languages is cos the consumer base refuses to use english as a mode of communication. We indians dont insist on using hindi, or tamil or telugu or whatever - we adapt, and in that process, lose our identity. Atleast I know i have.
moral of the story - i need to work on getting back to my roots. Its double let down for me since ive spent all my life in india.
I was heading for Paris from Madras by Air France (which the french pronounce 'Fronse'). Anyways, it was a 10 hr flight, leaving madras at something like 1 am. There were a horde of students headed to the US to do their MS. I met 3 people from my college there, which is blogpost material in itself, but the people who ended up sitting next to me are the post-centric topic.
The guy on my right was working for cooper industries, married, and the usual indian emigrant. The girl on my left is the inspiration for this post. She spent half her time sleeping, so i cuddnt really break the ice. When she did wake up, I dint see any enthu to open a conversation from her side, so i threw open a line.
'So, ur headed to the US to do ur MS too ?'\
Girl - 'enakku tamil matrum fronse mattum thaan theriyum' (i know only tamil and french)
ZONK. what ??, hang on, did i miss something ?? is this a bad excuse to not have a conversation with me ?
yep. sounds like that. But then, i dont give up easy.
me - 'neenga US ku mel padippu panna porengala ?' (headed to the US for higher studies ?)
Tamil French Girl (TFG) - 'Oh! Tamil theriyuma ungaluku ?' (hey! u know tamil!!)
(the conversation represented in english henceforth for the benefit of my worldwiode audience)
me - 'yeah yeah, im from madras, lady. was brought up there..'
tfg - 'oh alright! i was in madras for 7 years before my family shifted to paris. I studied in a tamil medium school, and then shifted to paris, where I dint have an english medium education. sorry if i startled you!'
me - 'oh no, its just that i havent met anyone whos bilingual and doesnt talk english!'
tfg - 'blah blah'
me - 'blah blah blah'
(and then the casual 'state of the world' talk, the 'tamil vs hindi' VS 'english vs french' talk, and the 'pink panther' talk)
I made a good friend on the plane, and theres nothing of note in the rest of the conversation, except that i found it very hard to talk in tamil alone, and not use a single word of english.
That just goes to show that im a victim of the cultural genocide. I dont know what my first language is, english, or tamil. ive never bothered to learn to read or write tamil, a fact which im not very comfortable with. Its one of those rare moments when I agree with politicians fighting for the compulsory tamil education in schools.
The reason software is released in spanish, french, and other languages is cos the consumer base refuses to use english as a mode of communication. We indians dont insist on using hindi, or tamil or telugu or whatever - we adapt, and in that process, lose our identity. Atleast I know i have.
moral of the story - i need to work on getting back to my roots. Its double let down for me since ive spent all my life in india.
6 comments:
Hey.. First Language and mother tongue are two different concepts.. For you, Your mother tongue will always remain Tamil and your first language will always remain English.. So don't mix them up..
And the most important question is whether the girl sitting next to you was a chick or not?..:D.. Anyway even before answering, I know that she was.. Otherwise you won't have taken the time to interact with her during her non-sleeping time.. :)
Robin !!
i was using 'first language' as the preferred language, not the terminology used in school (as in, 3rd language sanskrit etc. mother tongue goes with ethnicity also, which im not delving into...
haha, babe or not depends on point of view, dont ask me what i was thinking...
(the conversation represented in english henceforth for the benefit of my worldwode audience)
Ha ha nice one couldnt stop laughing:)))))
Hey Adriel, good to see you here, howve u been ?? get blogging quick, id like to know more abt coll since i left ...
i know one thing for sure...tamil is not ur first language..read 1 word and i'll change my name
hahah couldnt agree w/ you more da on the language thingy
Post a Comment