Random musings

sunday morning I was waiting near Kempfort to take a cab to the office (which never arrived FYI) and as usual was looking at little nothings that happen all around. In a distance there was this little kid - one of those street urchins, with an old bag, a bowl in the hand and in torn clothes looking around for money. What caught my eye was this guy's attitude. He wore an electronic watch in his hand (I am not sure if it was working); once in a while, he will comb his hair with his fingers (typically how rajni would do it in his movies), and was humming a tune quite loudly displaying all signs of a content life. Suddenly, after a couple of minutes, he notices that I am watching him. Immediately, he changes his demeanour, cuts such a wretched, sorry face that shall move anyone to tears, spits the chewing gum that was in his mouth, comes close to me and begs for some money. what .. I just ... you were ... just now !!!!

~o~

God knows what came upon me on sunday but I was terribly absent-minded the whole day. For starters, I stood under the shower with my specs on and didn't realized till water started dripping from it. But the heights of absent-mindedness happened in the ATM. I want to withdraw some cash; I insert my card, do everything required; take my card out and wait for the cash to come. In those few seconds, I tell myself to check my balance in the receipt that I get after withdrawing cash. Finally, the cash arrived but by then, I forgot what I was waiting for (the receipt!). I suddenly get a feeling that I am actually waiting for my card and that my card is stuck inside the machine. I barge into the bank next door, catch hold of a guy and tell him my problem. He looks at me uneasily, tells me that today's a sunday and hence I should wait for 2 days. I could have realized it atleast then. But no! "What do you mean, 2 days! How do you think I would go on without my card. Open the damn machine, do something! I want my card right away!". He apologises profusely and I walk out all huffy-puffy. Suddenly, I get this strange feeling and check my wallet. Lo! there it was. My first instinct was to just run and never see the guy again. But I was scared if it will result in a greater embarrassment. So, I went, gave a sheepish smile and said, "I just should have waited for sometime. The card was out just as I left and someone had left it on top of the ATM. I am sorry!" what a blunt lie. But, couldn't think of anything better then!

~o~

Another anectode about my beanbag buying incident. After being with my friends in INSEAD who were primarily from AP, I try to talk to people as much as possible in their native languages. My tamil is very good; hindi is ok; telugu is just passable; But one language I have been getting really good at is malayalam. But that's not something I should be proud of coz it's actually my mother tongue (hear! hear!). Till I graduated from BITS, this was a well kept secret. None of the mallus in pilani knew I was from kerala; I wasn't a part of the kairali group; On the other hand, I was actively involved in the tamil play troupe. All this primarily coz I was really ashamed of my malayalam. So, while in france, whenever I find time alone, I used to act out scenes involving my relatives, a shop vendor, a bus conductor, friends from kerala in malayalam. The thing is, it was all inside coz I have been listening to people for a long time and by the time I came back, I had enough practice. why I am telling you this is because, the salesmen who delivered the bags yesterday to me were malayalis and I was negotiating with them in malayalam trying to get the prize down by some 400 bucks. The salesmen somehow agreed - the guy standing next to me was totally impressed looking at the whole episode and congratulated me on my malayalam. but god only knows what those guys understood; they probably were laughing all night thinking of words I used.

PS: my brother's strategy is the best. 3 months before going home, he prepares like 5-6 sentences for everyone. If someone ends up telling him something else and expects a response he will - 1, give a hearty laugh 2, give this characteristic malayali "Oooooo" 3, say adipoli or thallipoli depending on the mood or 4, call me and say, "Rathish, idhu ketto" and walk off.