"Maayn I had 'Baby Mamma Drama" said my co-worker "Oh really..you did?" I sheepishly blurted. I could feel the traffic racing in my head , I rushed through all the English lessons that Ms.Annama Joseph had taught me in Middle School. I broke down the words 'Baby, Mamma, Drama...Sure it rhymed but I still was lost. I tried all possible combination 'Could he be talking about Binu mamma's sister Baby mamma in Thiruvalla....Naah. It seems like a losing battle today,time to resort to plan B. I nodded my head as if I connected with my Co-worker's feeling in some deep level. One of the most valuable lessons that Cultural adaptation has taught me was that when you are completely lost nod your head in affirmation and give the speaker your undivided attention with a straight face[meaning not being too happy or sad because the statement could warrant either response]. I could always go back to Sheryl in the evening and she could go over ' Conversation 101 '. My tryst with 'Amrikkan Englis' is not limited to this one conversation.
I thought I had left India with a reasonable understanding of the Engish language and the prospects of having ample opportunities to practice conversational English brought a slight excitement, small joys of life I tell ya.Little did I know what was in store for me. Of course I had done my homework and had included words like ' Homey' 'Homeboy' and Peaceout' to my now expanding vocabulary. Honestly I never coud reconcile with many of these words as the direct translation of these words to malayalam always left my mind in a knot. The guy at the security check in O'hare Airport looked at my watch and said 'That's tyte homey".Since there was a fairly large line of impatient people behind me I never got the chance to correct him and explain to him that my watch was not tight in fact if anything I thought the strap was a little too loose.
The hardest part about my first job in the call center was to understand the meaning of many common words that the young co-workers used on a daily basis. One day my Co-Worker called out to me from the corridor 'Holla atcha boi' For a second I was so impressed for I thought that my Co-worker who was not Indian was speaking Hindi.
Things have changed since then, having completed three years of life in the U.S of A, I have learned to weave in and out of conversations sprinkled with "Hollas""Fo Shizzles" and sometimes even a "Nizzle" here and there ;) I now realize that of late the words 'wicked''sick' 'fat' and so on have lost it's conventional meaning and now simply means 'good' and is used to show appreciation. My apologies to Geoffrey Chaucer and Shakespeare,they must be turning in their graves but as for now peaceout homies....holla.
It's all in the name.......
Disclaimer: The names mentioned below is fictional and any resemblance to any person or object in real life is unintended and purely coincidental.
MacArthur Mathai, Grocery Saajan ,Walmart Varghese, Soccer Saji, Burlington Babu. Some of these names have sparked an interest in me toward wondering how all these start. Either I have way too much time on hand or straying into the lighter side of life is therapeutic for me. From time to time I find my curios mind engaging in such trivial thoughts. I cannot help but think why it is that whether it’s New York or Kozhencherry some things don’t just change.
Things seem the same even when I am in Ranny- a quiet corner of the globe.Benz Shaji, Karate Biju , Rickshaw Simon and Kottayam Kurian were all familiar characters. It is even more interesting to note that this occurrence is mostly seen in the Malayali community. Most of the time these names are so familiar that it find it’s way into our daily conversations.
Maybe when people move to a particular place or choose a particular profession or hobby there is a mysterious voice that speaks over them “And from now on thou shall be called Soccer Saji…..”
Maybe the mind enjoys these occasional straying and sarcasm is just so embedded within the very grain of our being. I must confess that I have enjoyed these rhyming names that have helped me innumerable times to remember who is who and even what they do. I am pretty sure that there would be a nick name floating around for me as well ;) Anyways I’m gonna get off blog train now and head in the direction of Council Rd Kuriakose’s shop ;)
MacArthur Mathai, Grocery Saajan ,Walmart Varghese, Soccer Saji, Burlington Babu. Some of these names have sparked an interest in me toward wondering how all these start. Either I have way too much time on hand or straying into the lighter side of life is therapeutic for me. From time to time I find my curios mind engaging in such trivial thoughts. I cannot help but think why it is that whether it’s New York or Kozhencherry some things don’t just change.
Things seem the same even when I am in Ranny- a quiet corner of the globe.Benz Shaji, Karate Biju , Rickshaw Simon and Kottayam Kurian were all familiar characters. It is even more interesting to note that this occurrence is mostly seen in the Malayali community. Most of the time these names are so familiar that it find it’s way into our daily conversations.
Maybe when people move to a particular place or choose a particular profession or hobby there is a mysterious voice that speaks over them “And from now on thou shall be called Soccer Saji…..”
Maybe the mind enjoys these occasional straying and sarcasm is just so embedded within the very grain of our being. I must confess that I have enjoyed these rhyming names that have helped me innumerable times to remember who is who and even what they do. I am pretty sure that there would be a nick name floating around for me as well ;) Anyways I’m gonna get off blog train now and head in the direction of Council Rd Kuriakose’s shop ;)
A Blog is born !!!
I have stood by this busy road in blog land before. I am usually a curious bystander just soaking in all that I see around.Quite a place I must admit ! I must confess that I have toyed before with the idea of taking a step forward and becoming a part of the creative traffic I've admired here. In the end I would always convince myself that technology was never my forte and dismiss these thoughts as vanities that a strong dose of reality would wake me up from. Often that 'reality' came in the form of a phone call or even a TV show.
It all changed this weekend. The weekend started out as a harmless fun vacation weekend, little did I know that my brother was recruiting for Blog Land. Much midnight oil was burned, Miyagi Matthew, my brother from Orlando spoke such profound words of inspiration . I found myself sitting up at 3 am in the morning drawing a blank trying to name the blog. Lo and Behold sometime toward the early hours of dawn a blog was born.
As I am experiencing a full blown bloggers block I think my safest bet would be to wind up the ramblings for the day and come back inspired. Adios for now !!
It all changed this weekend. The weekend started out as a harmless fun vacation weekend, little did I know that my brother was recruiting for Blog Land. Much midnight oil was burned, Miyagi Matthew, my brother from Orlando spoke such profound words of inspiration . I found myself sitting up at 3 am in the morning drawing a blank trying to name the blog. Lo and Behold sometime toward the early hours of dawn a blog was born.
As I am experiencing a full blown bloggers block I think my safest bet would be to wind up the ramblings for the day and come back inspired. Adios for now !!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)