Being from a defence background, I had never thought that I could feel the difference while having to live in any particular part of the country to work, and why should I; I have lived almost in every part of the country courtesy my dad’s profession. I mean I have changed 8 schools in my total 12 years of schooling so you can imagine how much I have travelled around the country. In fact whenever somebody asks me from which place I am, I am dumbstruck for a moment and sometimes end up saying India, which is not inspired from the lecture that Shah Rukh Khan gave in Chak de India, who by the way is my favourite actor, and sadly enough, I have not yet got a chance to watch My Name is Khan. I think it’s going to be his next Chak De, a break from the nonsense kind of films he has been doing lately. But this is not about SRK, nor is it a movie review, hell it’s not even about me. In fact it’s just what all I was tempted to pen down when struck by the massive dissimilarities that can be felt in the lifestyle here, coming from the northern part of the country [which I can fairly establish], and no offence meant to the local people in any way. So once again I shall get back on the track, which is very hard for me being a nonstop blabberer, as you must have realised by now, and try not to deviate much....
So as I said earlier, I have been all around the country, and it’s not the first time I’ve come to the southern part of our country. Dad was posted for a year in Tamil nadu in a place called Wellington, and that’s about it. Have done my third standard from there. Of course I don’t remember much about the place, but from whatever I can recollect about the place and the people and its culture are still visible. The first and foremost being the fact that here, English is actually Hindi. Be it your rick driver or your normal grocery store chap, there are more chances of the person knowing English than Hindi, which trust me, was very difficult for me to digest initially, but I’ve made my peace with it. Having said that, what really gets on my nerves is that everybody here appends an H after T in my name, and insist on being correct. Like one of my friends says, students are taught their alphabets with an H after the T!!! I would like to take this opportunity to reach out to everybody and make it clear that my name ends with a “TA” and not a “THA” and I would really appreciate it if they would get it right at one go itself...it’s really not a very difficult name!
Speaking of language, I am horrible at remembering names...be it people’s name or names of some place. It’s really tough for me to get my proper nouns right at once. On top of that, I find myself in the land where names of not just places and people but general stores and streets are hard to pronounce, leave alone memorize, especially for a person like me who suffers from serious short term memory loss when it comes to names! I don’t think I had that much trouble memorizing the history dates in school compared to what I have to now to land in the right place in the city which has all kinds of tongue twisters as names of places!!
And then there is the intense smell of sandalwood in the air here there and everywhere, especially in the temples, in which I just can’t recognize any of the Gods’ idols!!! What left me completely baffled was the “Prasad” that I once got in one of the temples: a very spicy dish of black channa. Right from the time I gained consciousness about the world we live in, I have associated the temple Prasad with sweetness. As a kid, the sweet was the only motivational factor to go to any temple!
Almost everybody here is a god-loving person, and absolutely everybody here is a gajra-loving person. Its not hard to spot a garland the moment you step out of your place..you can find plenty on any female's hair bun, or hanging on any vehicle's rear view mirror, [be it a merc or a rick], or at the entrance of any shop or your neighbour's house.
Talking about neighbour's entrance, one more thing thats really really hard to miss is a rangoli. It doesn't have to be a big and colourful one..most of them are plain and simple kinds, but what I appreciate is that there is a new one day after day everyday without fail.
And I appreciate you for having read the entire thing, i know its way too long, but then i am yet to learn how to control my nonstop blabberings, which I like to blurt it all out in one breath, and till then, i'll continue appreacting your patience for staying with me through it and you can continue appreciating my blabberings :)
