If we were to find the perfect mate for Britain’s very famous stiff upper lip, you’d have to head towards the Bay of Bengal and come directly to South India. Stiff upper lip, meet Oh- so-flexible- that- loses- shape- and- collapses lip + tongue + larynx! Sparks fly, chemistry happens!
The place where I worked, in Edinburgh, was called mini India and for good reason. The evenings were filled with the sounds of ‘kaadha’ – telegu, ‘arrreeeyyy – hindi’ and (ewwww) ‘ok VA?’ – Tamil (will get back to this later). Most of the students found the work timings perfect and ‘most of the students’ being Indians, it was a great unity in diversity thing out there! (In fact once there was this huge row, because there was an India-Pakistan match going on, on one channel (yeah, we could watch TV at work!) and a Man U –some other team match on another one....ooh, the tension was palpable!)
Scottish names are pretty easy to pronounce, at least for us who roll the tongue in every possible dimension and the impossible dimensions too (try saying vaazhai pazham!). Our mother tongues are pretty complex as they are, combined with the necessity to be bi-lingual in our country, I think we can pronounce just about anything in this world (in our own accents of course.... ‘gelf’ anyone?!) But most of the natives I met, knew just one language. Petttre*. So, owing to some not so flexible upper lips, there were ‘Lacks mes’, ‘Shredderzhs’, ‘Vick has’s’ and many many more!
Coming back to the point, so, one day, my friend at work (yeah, she’s south Indian) hurriedly calls me and says, “Yuvan’s** looking for you”. I get all excited thinking that I’m finally going to get my break in the Tamil Film industry. Not sure if she perceived that or whether I had a puzzled look on my face, she said “Yuvan, Yuvan, that guy, who sits there” I was a little shocked (and disappointed =D) but the Yuvan guy had gone for a break, so I just went about doing my own work (and sulking a little!) when another Southie friend casually passes by and says, “Ivan wants to see you”. Before I could smartly answer that I was already seeing someone, this friend of mine jerked his head in the direction of ‘Ivan’. Which happened to be the exact direction of ‘Yuvan’. And in Yuvan/Ivan’s seat, sat my colleague ‘Ewan Scott’!! (Ok, I’ll confess that I had to ask the guy how in the world I pronounce his first name, before I got it right!!) It’s Ew as in you and an as in un – Ewan! Yuvan. Ivan. Now make your tongue touch the tip of your nose.
Now, to imagine Ewan singing “merke merke”***!!
*Tamil slang for English
**Yuvan Shankar Raja is a well known Tamil music director
*** merke merke is a famous tamil song composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja
30.7.09
Cartoons
About seventeen years ago (oh boy...!!), in the month of November, we all were pretty silly and stupid. Especially Tublu*. Seriously.
It was my birthday and I was soooooo excited! Mom was preparing 'kesari' (fav fav!) and there was a nice cake waiting for me to slaughter! So there we were, me, all decked up and pseudo grinning (not letting my upper lip touch my lower lip- I was wearing LIPSTICK!!), two blobs of bright pink on either cheekbone, same bright pink on eyelids ...you get the drift... my brother, Tublu and this kocha kocha group of giggling, yelling, playing ball in the house kids! I was turning nine, oooooh nine!!
Due to some culinary issues, the party was getting delayed, and though I was supposed to wait until after the birthday bash to open my gifts, I couldn’t bear the suspense! So, when my folks weren’t looking, me, surrounded by the rest of the restless kids (especially Tublu) opened the first one! It was from my parents and was a book (sigh...I know!) that said "CARTOONS" in big letters. The cover had a picture of a person, manipulating a stick figure to change the position of its hands. I understand what that meant now, but then....anyways, Tublu saw the 'CARTOONS' and began giggling, I really didn’t see the joke, and could empathize with the emperor in 'The Emperor's New Clothes'! So we open the book and go to Chapter One. Tublu does the honors and reads it out aloud "Learning to draw cartoons is really simple and easy" and this guy begins giggling again, "Oh didi, this is so funny". And we all laughed with him (being the oldest one in the group no license to being the smartest). And we laughed hard. In fact, Tublu had tears in his eyes. We gooses were laughing at How to draw 'CARTOONS', just because it said ‘CARTOONS’.
*Tublu is Tublu’s nickname
*Tublu is 6 years old at this party
It was my birthday and I was soooooo excited! Mom was preparing 'kesari' (fav fav!) and there was a nice cake waiting for me to slaughter! So there we were, me, all decked up and pseudo grinning (not letting my upper lip touch my lower lip- I was wearing LIPSTICK!!), two blobs of bright pink on either cheekbone, same bright pink on eyelids ...you get the drift... my brother, Tublu and this kocha kocha group of giggling, yelling, playing ball in the house kids! I was turning nine, oooooh nine!!
Due to some culinary issues, the party was getting delayed, and though I was supposed to wait until after the birthday bash to open my gifts, I couldn’t bear the suspense! So, when my folks weren’t looking, me, surrounded by the rest of the restless kids (especially Tublu) opened the first one! It was from my parents and was a book (sigh...I know!) that said "CARTOONS" in big letters. The cover had a picture of a person, manipulating a stick figure to change the position of its hands. I understand what that meant now, but then....anyways, Tublu saw the 'CARTOONS' and began giggling, I really didn’t see the joke, and could empathize with the emperor in 'The Emperor's New Clothes'! So we open the book and go to Chapter One. Tublu does the honors and reads it out aloud "Learning to draw cartoons is really simple and easy" and this guy begins giggling again, "Oh didi, this is so funny". And we all laughed with him (being the oldest one in the group no license to being the smartest). And we laughed hard. In fact, Tublu had tears in his eyes. We gooses were laughing at How to draw 'CARTOONS', just because it said ‘CARTOONS’.
*Tublu is Tublu’s nickname
*Tublu is 6 years old at this party
16.7.09
Belling the Cat!!!!
I think everyone at work should wear bells around their neck!
Last I knew, we were still human beings (Terminator Salvation effect! The only thing I loved about the movie was the person I snuggled up to in the seat beside me!) We’re definitely not coded to work eight hours (or more) cooped up in front of a computer. More so, it’s inhuman to expect us to be work-related geared every moment of the stipulated work time. After a long pause and a * I think I just put my foot in my mouth look* - Right?
I’m easily bored, as was my condition when the incident that inspired the first sentence occurred. Having been bitten by the abstract designs bug, I’ve been trying to learn Photoshop to create my own, I must be pretty keen on this thing, because, when my HR colleague walked in to my cubicle to introduce me to a new intern from my team, all three of us were pretty shocked to see multihued leaves, fill effected fruits and a strange looking grey tree trunk (with shadow effect) adorning my screen, on a PowerPoint presentation that is technically supposed to be home to sales forecasts charts and market share pie charts.
The lady (HR) introduced me to the gentleman (new intern) with a grin while the intern took a double take at my screen! After saying goodbye (which I initiated for obvious reasons) it was a clear minute before the blood rushed to my face and I felt embarrassed! But it was only an hour later, that I realized that I remembered neither the intern’s face nor his name! {Got me thinking whether this had something to with age, given the fact that I reached my peak, four years ago (apparently!)}
So, that’s why I think bells around the neck would be a great idea!
Oh, by the way, my ‘thing’ for abstract designs began with me buying a box of acrylic paints and delving into a world that, pertaining to me, can be aptly described by the phrase ‘SO not talented whatsoever’! But ‘who encouraged, motivated’!!! Armed with that pat on my back, I began my journey (virtually, of course) and stumbled upon (as opposed to stumbleupon) some really awesome websites that I’d like to share! These two I visit almost every day!
Its Pretty Good - It really is!
Design Sponge – Their DIY section makes me feel like a kid in a candy store!
I recently made Banana Dosa- Sanjay Thumma’s,recipe (a.k.a Vah Chef). If you haven’t seen this guy on youtube, or the latest Bingo Mad Angles ad, you must do so! His recipes are easy, the videos filled with funny trivia and he loves what he cooks (and says so!). Try it with Tamarind Chutney (for the sweet with the sour effect). Mom thought on a scale of ten I just passed (British marking system...hehehehe!) but I think for a first timer I did pretty well!
CM-Chap, thank you for the nudge!
Last I knew, we were still human beings (Terminator Salvation effect! The only thing I loved about the movie was the person I snuggled up to in the seat beside me!) We’re definitely not coded to work eight hours (or more) cooped up in front of a computer. More so, it’s inhuman to expect us to be work-related geared every moment of the stipulated work time. After a long pause and a * I think I just put my foot in my mouth look* - Right?
I’m easily bored, as was my condition when the incident that inspired the first sentence occurred. Having been bitten by the abstract designs bug, I’ve been trying to learn Photoshop to create my own, I must be pretty keen on this thing, because, when my HR colleague walked in to my cubicle to introduce me to a new intern from my team, all three of us were pretty shocked to see multihued leaves, fill effected fruits and a strange looking grey tree trunk (with shadow effect) adorning my screen, on a PowerPoint presentation that is technically supposed to be home to sales forecasts charts and market share pie charts.
The lady (HR) introduced me to the gentleman (new intern) with a grin while the intern took a double take at my screen! After saying goodbye (which I initiated for obvious reasons) it was a clear minute before the blood rushed to my face and I felt embarrassed! But it was only an hour later, that I realized that I remembered neither the intern’s face nor his name! {Got me thinking whether this had something to with age, given the fact that I reached my peak, four years ago (apparently!)}
So, that’s why I think bells around the neck would be a great idea!
Oh, by the way, my ‘thing’ for abstract designs began with me buying a box of acrylic paints and delving into a world that, pertaining to me, can be aptly described by the phrase ‘SO not talented whatsoever’! But ‘who encouraged, motivated’!!! Armed with that pat on my back, I began my journey (virtually, of course) and stumbled upon (as opposed to stumbleupon) some really awesome websites that I’d like to share! These two I visit almost every day!
Its Pretty Good - It really is!
Design Sponge – Their DIY section makes me feel like a kid in a candy store!
I recently made Banana Dosa- Sanjay Thumma’s,recipe (a.k.a Vah Chef). If you haven’t seen this guy on youtube, or the latest Bingo Mad Angles ad, you must do so! His recipes are easy, the videos filled with funny trivia and he loves what he cooks (and says so!). Try it with Tamarind Chutney (for the sweet with the sour effect). Mom thought on a scale of ten I just passed (British marking system...hehehehe!) but I think for a first timer I did pretty well!
CM-Chap, thank you for the nudge!
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