medusa: Auto!!!!
auto driver: where to?
medusa: vidyanagar.
auto driver (from now on ad): come.
medusa: (feeling really surprised, why is this guy speaking to me in English? for the uninitiated, all auto conversations are held in Hindi, because most drivers are not literate and definitely not conversant in English)
ad: (still in English) so what you study?
medusa: er....English....
ad: why? coz it international language?
medusa: (not knowing the answer to the question) er....yes....
ad: what foreign languages you know?
medusa: (now terribly embarrassed) none....
ad: no foreign language? how many langugage you know?
medusa: (more embarrassed) three...hindi, bengali, english.....
ad: bas? very bad
medusa: (desperately fidgeting with the cell phone, not looking at him in order to divert attention from herself)
ad: ok, it is 20/-
medusa: (smiling sheepishly, knowing fully well that she is being fooled) thank you
ad: why not go abroad?
medusa: (to herself.....abroad? abroad? he said the word abroad?)....er.... i dont know...maybe later
ad: go to Us or Switzerland
medusa: ok.......(please dont do this to me, i keep on asking myself this question everyday)
ad: I did German and French from your institute
medusa: (dumbfounded....then why are you driving an auto.....how very mean of me to be thinking that....aaaaaaaaa, this is what will happen to me also...help help help!)
ad: (starts speaking french, or so medusa thinks coz she doesnt know anything anyway)
medusa runs for her life........
lesson learnt.....never learn a foreign language coz u might just be in a position to bully poor research students.
lesson 2: learn a foreign language otherwise everyone will bully you.
lesson 3: where is your academics headed to?
once i was going to sec'bad railway station. i got into an auto just outside the institute. the auto-driver didn't know foreign languages, like the guy you had the pleasure of meeting. but he had a fair bit of things to tell me about philosophy till we reached the station.
ReplyDeletethat auto wala is probably the greatest auto wala in the history of india. he shud have his own comedy hour or something!! :)
ReplyDeletep.s.:damn, if some auto wala starts speaking to me in english, i'll probably jump out of the auto screaming like a little girl. :P
Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI don't know any foreign languages at all. Once i had to live in Arizona by the Mexican border & learn how to say a few words of spanish. Mostly about food, because I was living the free life & working in Restaurants. But, I've forgotten most of it.
awwwwwwwwww patpatpat
ReplyDeletemy mother tongue is malyalam (i speak a very northindian version),my national language is Hindi(my friends beg me not to try too hard), my language is English (one language i can speak with confidence and minimal errors), my soul language is French (don't have anyone to talk with :( so cud u ask that auto driver to get in touch with me?). amusing incident by the way.
ReplyDelete