Loves Labours Lost

I received an SMS as follows: ninu + nanu + cenma + yavaga + pls + tell + me (you + I + movie + when + please + tell + me. I swear, Cinema was spelt so!)

I replied: ninu + nanu + cenma = DISASTER! Now the equation is balanced! May I know who you are?

An hour later, I got a call from the same number. I put on my deepest and gruffest voice and said "HELLO"

Line was cut.

Some poor lovelorn soul, must be deeply disappointed.

Nuanced Speech

I wanted to explore the language of the present day youth. The 'Y' generation. (Is that the shorter version of "Why is this generation like this?"). I had an idea about a post on nuanced speech. I decided to merge the two. Bad idea? Let us see.

OK. I'll tell you one story OK? (Where have all the indefinite articles signifying a quantity of one gone? They seem to have completely disappeared now a days, I mean, now one days.) I had gone to buy coffee powder and come OK? Sudden rain. Jumped into one shop OK? OK. Neat and clean and all. Standing standing suddenly, I started saying Chihuahua and by the time I wondered when to stop, dogs all around me. Raining cats and dogs they say no? That day only dogsOK? I am thinking, where they are coming from and oh s*** I remember. Below shop no? A vet shopOK? Rain means all dog owners and their best friends in the med shop. Then I see, shop full of doggy things. Oh! OK, now I know.

Standing there, I see two beautiful dogs OK? Same type both. Really really cute OK? Wondering what breed it is. Finally asked the dude catching one dog. (This is the Kannada to English translation that you hear very often. In kannaDa the verb hiDi means both hold and catch. As a noun, it means handle) What breed? I ask him OK? Bugger looks one type and casual like, "it is an Indian breed" he says. You know, like only he knows dogsOK? OK, bugger, I look seriously and tell, "It's like, I think it is Rajapalyam. That's why I ask". Thud, he comes down OK? Stupid grin he tells, “yaa, their father IS a Rajapalyam”. Awww bugger we also know dogs OK?

Well, even if you are not sick of it, I am. This really really ooooooops, .. This really happened to me. He did have the look that said, "Who knows about Rajapalyams other than the cognoscenti?" Subscript - like us. I like dogs, from a distance, preferably in books. I can recognize a few breeds and am fascinated by them. Once, in Germany, I ran away from the table in an open air restaurant. My companion was really scared that he has to pick up the tab for my beer too! I ran and talked to a girl with a really tiny dog on a leash. Learnt of a new (to me, that is) breed. It is called a Reh Pinscher. Reh means a doe in German. This breed was bred to be small, run after deer and bite them and hang on to them, to be hunted down easily by the hunter. Cruel! But, interesting. I swear! The fact that the girl was pretty had nothing to do with it!

I will now continue in "normal" English.

I was waiting at the "parcel" counter of a restaurant. (Take away or "to go" counter for those who do not know this very Kannada (south Indian?) term) I had a fairly long list of things to be packed. A young lady came to the counter and handed her order in. She then went out to talk to someone. Returned in a few minutes and asked the man at the counter if her order was ready. He said that it would take more time. She talked a little further to him in a friendly way that is unusual. She was obviously in a hurry and hence I apologised to her for my long list that was making her wait. Then to compensate for it, I complimented her on the easy friendly way she talked to the guy at the counter. She thanked me for it and said "I learnt it from my hubby". Must be an unusual man, that truncated husband. Not only does his wife learns something from him but is also ready to even acknowledge it!

See what I mean? She was telling me in no uncertain terms. "Look old man, do not get ideas, just because I talk freely! I am already married and am close to my (truncated) husband." She must have wondered if she was too touchy. She complimented me that it was a good idea of mine to bring a book along and read it while waiting for my order to be filled.

See what I mean by nuanced speech?

Message in a Bottle on the High Seas

I have had some success looking for long lost (to me, that is) friends through my blog. Let me try once more.

Look at the guys in the picture. In the middle is yours truly. The other two are Solomon Mechessa and Alemayehu Mechessa. Unfortunately I do not remember who is who! It is no wonder that I do remember their names. They sound so musical. They are such nice people and friends. The place is IIT Kharagpur and in particular the quadrangle of the Vidya Sagar Hall (VS Hall), Ca 1986.

These two were gentle gentlemen and cousins. They used to be quite isolated. Very few of the hostel-mates talked to them and I was the exception. We became good friends. Before I left Kgp, they gave me a lunch - authentic Ethiopian style. They were good cooks. Ethiopian cuisine is very close to South Indian food is what I remember other than the fact that it was a very good lunch. In the company of two very nice people.

I was never a good correspondent in the days of snail mail and am a much better one in the electronic era. Of course, I am not perfect but, I am a far better one. Else, I would not have lost touch with these two friends.

I searched for Alemayehu on the net and did find one - Dr. Alemayehu Mechessa. I tried to contact him through an international organisation that he is associated with but with no success. I hope, I am more successful here.

Dear Alemayehu, dear Solomon, I have forgotten which name matches which face in the picture, but I remember you clearly and with affection. Do contact me if and when you see this blog.

One more Ethiopian friend from VS Hall was one Ebenet. I do not know his second name. I just put it here increase the chances of this post being hit in a random search and getting to contact the Mechessas.

Sketch

Some time ago I wrote about Julia Lermontova here.

I made a paper and pencil sketch of her portrait and here it is.

Wow

My my! Must be some man, to be on such pally terms with none other than . .

Sorry bad picture, from my seven year old mobile.

AWAD and Award

If a blog is not (also) about bragging, what is it?

So let me brag.

It is not really a brag, actually, but a means of sharing a small win.

I subscribe to and read a e-mail newsletter called "A Word A Day" from "Wordsmith" Anu Garg.

The e-mail introduces or re-introduces you to (or vice versa) a new word and gives you the meaning, pronunciation, etymology, related words and usage. This is done 5 times a week. It is pure fun. I am a logophile.

Usually the words that come to you in a week share a theme. Last week, the theme was "you find the theme". That means, the theme was concealed and the readers were challenged to find it based on the week`s words.

And the rest is here in Wordsmith's words.

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Last week's Discover the Theme contest challenged readers to identify the common thread among the five words featured: odious, asinine, cagey, arcadian, and devious. Several readers believed that these are all words that describe their ex-boy/girlfriend or ex-husband/wife.

About 1200 readers took up the challenge of whom about 150 sent the correct answer: All of these words can be pronounced as a sequence of letters and numbers: ODS, SN9 (or AC9, SE9), RKDN, KG, and DVS.

I'd feared that this puzzle might prove too difficult compared to the previous ones, but never underestimate the ability of a thousand brains working on a problem. The first person to send the correct answer was J L Anil Kumar of Bangalore, India, who sent me the solution within minutes of the first word going out on Monday. He wins a signed copy of the book A Word A Day.

A second winner, randomly selected from all who sent correct answers, is Ada Payne of Delaware, Ohio, who opted to receive a signed copy of The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two as her prize.

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You can see more of all this here.

So, I am eagerly looking forward to the book now.

Oh! Thank you, thank you. . . . . . . .

My own reckoning is that this challenge is easier for a "South Indian" like me and hence I had an unfair(?) advantage The reason is that most Indian languages, more so the SI ones, have no serious concept of a pause, except when we run out of breath. When pronouncing O-D-S we are most likely to say "oodeeyus". Others: "oh pause dee pause es". The pauses may be micro (even nano as per the latest craze) pauses. But they make a difference. Folk or amateur phonetics? Perhaps.