Language Problem

Disclaimer: I am a peace loving, law abiding citizen of Democratic India. And I do love all languages.

  All through my life until I got married I lived in Old Bangalore, where all of us spoke Kannada, since that was our Mother tongue and so was it of others who lived around our place. Bangalore expanded, I got married, moved out of core Bangalore and settled in new Bangalore for work and day care reasons. Now though I am a SAHM, the ease of commute to work from home, makes me put in these new areas.
Now the problem is I stay in an apartment complex, which has people from all states, obviously each of us speak a different language @ home.So when I meet ladies outside, in the play area or while dropping my daughter to school, they start talking in Hindi.  I answer them in English. Then they ask me how come u dont talk Hindi, you should learn.This is when my blood boils .I tell them look, you haven't learn t Kannada which is one of the easiest language in spite of staying all these years in Bangalore. And do note Hindi is not Rastrabhasha as you think. And if u do not know English fine with me, but do not ask me to learn a language, when I am not forcing you to learn mine.

 S feels I sound like an activist when I tell these to people, but I feel, come on, how is it alright for some one to point fingers at me, when I don't at them.

Most of the  Kannadigas  are very accommodating, we learn all languages,we converse in the language you want , have made you feel @ home. But our government which is all scam ridden runs on Kannada language, so don't complain, ask for help people will oblige and translate and even do things for you.So you go to any office, you feel handicapped that you do-not know Kannada and everybody speaks in Kannada , do some thing about it than cribbing.If you feel the maids who work for you, and the housekeeping staff speak only Kannada and have difficulty in learning your language, all I want to say is you being educated cannot learn a language, or finding it difficult to follow, then why complain about  illiterate people.

 I guess I have ranted enough for the day.And my dear readers I am not Bal thackreys cousin, or even remotely related to him, I am just a Proud Kannadiga, who cannot be taken for granted all the time.

Love of my life: Coffee

I miss waking up to the smell of fresh coffee, which my mom would make every morning.Being a South Indian Brahmin family we take pride in drinking coffee. My dad says if u have to know the quality of a restaurant taste its coffee.There is this old palace ,which is converted to a hotel, the coffee served is always lukewarm, no number of complaints have solved the problem of lukewarm coffee. They say since it is a 5 star hotel, every items served, has to be billed in the kitchen, then at another place and finally at the cashier's table hence it gets warm by the time it arrives on the table. I plan to gift them a good Thermos flask next time.
I love coffee in the south Indian style only.The fancy coffee at Cafe Coffee Day (CC) outlets fails to tempt me to a cup.I would always prefer to drink in a small Darshini hotel than in Cafe Coffee Day.But if I need to spend some time with someone then of course I head out to a CC Day. During the recent times all CC Day outlets are filled with young college crowd talking loudly, smoking and in general mis behaving so much that u cant hear your own voice. I have noticed in few CC Day outlets they even let the crowd smoke Hukkas. I think this attempts to mass promotion of the idea "Smoking is hep and happening".So for now I think I am off CC Days.Not that they are begging me to have a cup.
There are places in old Bangalore namely " Sajjan rao " circle where the coffee served is so good that you can never stop at one cup.Another good place is coffee house.Here the waiters feel they are doing u a favor by bringing you your cup.They offer you free advice and make you feel grateful that they served you this time.
My sis P would never drink coffee until she was aged 10 or 12. My dad started a campaign telling her that if she doesn't drink coffee her brain will never become sharp, and so now the poor thing is a coffee addict as the rest of the family is.My dad sometimes has coffee after coming from his clinic at 10 pm and then has dinner.When he requests for a cup at night, we kids would be happy as we would also get a sip.
Coffee at my mom's place is made according to the taste of the person.Mom has a big tumbler of milky coffee with her sugar free.Dad and me have it strong with a pinch of sugar and at high temperature, my sis with normal sugar and temperature,maid with lots of sugar and milk and lukewarm.Making Coffee never stops there is always some reason to make and drink coffee at home.

Kulli speaks

Me: Eat soon, how long are you chewing?
Kulli: Amma, I have many teeth, each tooth wants to eat food, what shall I do.

Me:Lets buy clothes for you this summer
Kulli: will you buy for Kulla also?

Me: I am hungry, I will eat you.
Kulli: No Amma, please dont eat me.
Me: Ok , then I will eat Kulla
Kulli: No please dont eat him eat Anna (S)
Me: Why, then who will take you to school, who will drive the car
Kulli: You, you can do everything, you can drive, you can cook,you can take me to spencers, you can do everything.

I was thrilled to get the Super Woman Award from my daughter.

I love the way my kulli selflessly , thinks about her brother.

My Summer Camp

Note: This a post from my other blog, which is now extinct, found this in one of the folders, and posted it, since i am having a bit of writer's block.
My cousin of 10 years has joined Art of living Summer Camp. She attends the camp for 5 days a week for a fortnight for 4 hours. And this is not a new  trend in Bangalore, that working couples enroll their kids for various summer camps through the day, so that the kids remain active.

This reminds me of my Summer camp for 2 summers. My mom put me and my sister for the then famous summer camp " Makkala Koota" in chamrajpet. I remember there were interviews for even the summer camp and the list would be announced few days later.My moms idea was to keep us occupied from 10 to 5 which also happened to be her working hours for at least one month of the summer.And so me and my sis were put to this summer camp which was supposed to be the most prestigious one for the then middle class.

This summer camp started with early morning prayer. The entire crowd was divided into 4 groups , and there would be a captain and a vice captain. And the groups were named after the mythological rivers.There would be art class, cookery demos, first aid class. Then there would be lunch. Everyday after lunch, 2 kids from each group were selected to serve the teachers. And 2 kids per day, were supposed to do Sentry duty. Now this would be fun, the entire day the kids doing the sentry duty would be excused from all the activities and would guard the gates of the Famous Makkala Koota grounds. The kids selected to serve the teachers would be taught the conventions, norms and the rules of serving the food.

After lunch, there would be story telling session which would get very boring at times. And after lunch there would be music and dance class.At the end of the camp, a cultural day would be organized in which each and every kid had to participate. So the practice would start from the first day itself. We also had March Past practice in military style for which we were trained in hot sun for 3 days a week:(

Every day we were supposed to write a journal, and the best journal would be awarded a prize. And I had won it also.:) There would also be prizes foe best student, best sentry,
"bhagavad geetha" recitation, light music , devotional music, best group etc. We also had rope climbing and gymnastics classes twice a week. And a picnic with an overnight stay to some place.

Altogether it would be a tiresome one month. I had an additional responsibility of looking after my naughty sis. I remember mom had got her a shorts which had a huge face painted  on each
leg. And when she would walk, she would look really cute which each step showing up a face.

Hmmmm, those were some tough times, since after coming back from the camp we also had to finish homework given by the school. With that we had to write one page cursive writing in English and Kannada and write tables from 2 to 20 assigned by my Grandpa. And hence we would eagerly await the school reopening. As summer hols had become more demanding than school.

Weekend

This weekend as usual had made great plans.I was planning to take my kulli to the kite flying festival @ palace grounds, attend a distant cousins wedding,get my kulla vaccinated, eat out, and  last but not the least buy clothes.
But in reality I did none of the above. Apart from ordering Pizzas nothing was done. But what I did was, cleaned the fridge, watched "Maine Pyar Kiya"(MPK), and "Hancock".

Now  I have watched MPK every time it is on the TV, I had watched it as a child in the theater, but stills I get drawn to it. But this time watched with S hence it was more fun.

1. I hate Bagyashrees voice.Its damn irritating.
2. Salman Khan was handsome, age has not been kind to him nor his hair.
3. Bagyashree(B) was given such ill fitting dresses, if it was me, I would have refused to wear.
4. Poor B was made to tuck in a gents shirt in her jeans which made her but look enlarged.
5. She was made to  tie a scarf around her waist when she wore a jeans.
6. Her pimples are quite visible even with that pancake flaky makeup.
7. Salman Khan poor guy has been removing his shirt since his first movie.
8. Sumeet Mixie  box was promptly displayed in the kitchen of Salman khan's home, wonder why they weren't using it at all , or was kept for advertising.
9. B  was just P.U.C pass as stated by her, but still she was Adarsh nari.
10. Dint know what was so alluring in the doodhwali, that all servants wanted her.

But still I will watch the  movie next time its played, for its song, for its badly choreographed but melodious  songs and simple straightforward boy meets girl story.