hey y’all! thanks for the many engaging discussions on my last post; it was an intense one to throw down, so my apologies for that. i promise to continue the ongoing discussions when i find the time your responses deserve :)
i know you're expecting an update about india, but i think we need to lighten the mood a little ‘round here. we have been experiencing quite the comedy of moments in the past few days, many of which have made us laugh hysterically and repeatedly. i'm unsure of how many can be enjoyable to those who weren't here to witness them, but i have definitely noticed that folks at home appreciate the details of life as much as the bigger picture, sooooooo in list form as per usual:
1) we got caught out in the rain today. we got caught in the rain yesterday as well, only yesterday i wasn't wearing my khaki cargo capris. which means that yesterday my capris weren't entirely transparent within 2 minutes of downpour.
2) my accent is getting to be a real bother. it is especially hilarious to hear me make a phone call to a store or a restaurant. i called one place to find out if they were open, which they said they would be until 7pm.... and we arrived to promptly find them closed. mental note that "yes/no" questions are rather unhelpful when no one understands what the hell you're saying. i also had the following exchange --
man: can i have your name, madam?
arches: archana.
man: what? i didn't get you.
arches: archana.
man: can i have the spelling please, madam?
arches: a-r-c-h-a-n-a.
man: but.... that's INDIAN!
3) which brings me to my next observation. no one thinks i'm indian. get past the hangups over the expat situation - despite where i was born (which was india, for the record!) and where i was raised (which makes me Canadian), every ounce of my family is of Indian origin. i don't think there has been even ONE person from another land. at the beginning people in b'lore assumed i was "from the north", or Punjabi. lately that has devolved into confusion and a "really, Konkani?! you don't look Indian!". i feel for the Assamese, i tell ya.
4) i am rather lingually confused presently. my days consist of a healthy mix of english, konkani, hindi and kannada. half the time i am not processing what language i am hearing, which means i regularly confuse which language i (try to) respond in. this has affected my friend Alison the most, who often looks at me patiently to see how long it will take me to realize i just spoke in Konkani, or that she didn't actually understand the exchange with the auto-walla in Hindi.
the funniest outcome of this by FAR, is that alison has been picking up some Konkani. two of the first words she has learned have been "vacha" (let's go) and "nakka" (i don't want, or no thanks). but because of the exasperation i tend to say "nakka" with, it usually ends up being "nakka nakka nakka". one day we were in a coffee shop, and stalking people who seemed ready to leave to see whose table we could take over. we saw a couple who had their bill, but i was getting alison to narrate their actions so that it wasn't TOO obvious that we were eyeing them down. and it looked more and more like the guy at the table really wanted to leave, and the girl at the table was hellbent on dragging it out a little longer. eventually i asked for an update, and alison said "it's the same. the boy is saying 'vacha' and the girl is saying 'nakka nakka nakka'".
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:) more to come, yo! i have been MIA and i apologize; please bear with me a little longer and i'll be back to my old tricks.
5 weeks ago
