Fo Shizzle Yo....!!!!

"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.