Some of my close friends would know that I consider myself as linguistically challenged. At any given point of time I can learn/talk/understand no more than 2 languages.
Well yes as with most of the other stuff I put up here this is also a mild exaggeration but it is very difficult for me to learn a new language so I accept it and stop trying to make a fool out of myself. More than any other language it is Hindi our official language which has a problem with me. I never could reason with the fact that inanimate objects have gender. Plus there are a lot more stuff in that language which has given me enough nightmares throughout the 6 years I studied it. (Yes! 6 years!!! Yet I cannot speak or understand Hindi properly! Now you all know why I don't like it!) This particular trait of mine has made me the butt of many a jokes among my friend's group.
So this is just a background to the following incident which happened yesterday.
I was on my way to the railway station to go home with hardly any cash on me. As always I went to the nearby ATM, after entering the PIN the machine's touch screen was stuck on the language selection page. I touched English nothing happened. I touched Malayalam, again nothing happened, skipping the Hindi in the middle I came out and went to the only other ATM in the locality. The other one was closed for repairs. I stood there at 1:30 pm not really knowing what to do to catch the train at 2:15 pm. Again I went back to first ATM hoping for a miracle to happen. When you are walking in the sun with two moderately large bags trust me you'll become a believer! Then man inside the ATM came out counting money. MIRACLE! I silently proclaimed while entering the small room. But again, the machine was stuck at the language selection. Was God playing a trick with me? Then I understood the grand joke! I touched the middle option - Hindi! It worked. Unbelievable! The ATM did not have a problem till the previous night. First time in my life I am seeing the ATM behaving like this. With familiarity I managed the first Hindi screen without reading but the second was tough. I had to try really hard to decipher those signs. I was sure the person waiting outside would think I was gonna steal money or something. But thankfully he didn't call the police.
Only when I was comfortably sitting in the train I realized the prank God played on me!
He sure does have a good sense of humour, even though many of his followers don't.
I am sure many of us have these kind of tiny incidents.
Do share them here.
I wonder if ur aware - I'm the same as u : only my Achilles Heel is Malayalam itself :)
ReplyDeleteI never knew you too had a language problem! Comforting to know others suffer the same condition. . :D
Deletetrue story : when I'm in a region I learn a little bit of that ( eg : Marathi in Pune, Kannada in Karnataka )... then promptly get it all wired up when I leave... cant even remember whether the words I'm saying r words I learned for Marathi and Mangalore.
DeleteNo doubt about it - my weakness has always always been languages
Kinda same with me. . If you talk slowly I can understand but very hard to talk back. After being in Mangalore for 5 years my malayalam is getting corrupted.
DeleteHaha..I am glad I only had to learn english and hindi and never had any problem :P
ReplyDeleteTwo languages is managable Ritika. . Prob happens when it goes more than 2. . :-(
ReplyDeleteIt's easier to be a North Indian, I guess!! Only had to learn Hindi and English. We had Sanskrit as well and I don't remember a word of it!! Thankfully, it's not used anywhere in the world. I understand Sindhi, but reading and writing is a different ball game.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me wonder, our country is so unique :)
Nisha, knowin hindi is always an advantage if u r travelling outside kerala. . I dont know how but we have a thing with hindi. . You'll find it very difficult to manage in kerala if u know only hindi. . Keralites know English better. . We are so proud of it that we even have our own accent! :-P.
ReplyDeleteIndeed our country is unique. . :-)
Well,be thankful u weren't stuck with a Kannada option :P That would b fun ...
ReplyDeleteTrue story : I checked in a hotel in Kozhikode early this year; everything went well and then ,when I was gonna check out , I phoned the reception and told them "Naanu ivathu belige check-out madthini!"
Side effects of staying away from the motherland for too long I guess!
Stuck with kannada means i would run out of the atm!!
DeleteAnd that happens to me also. . Especially when talking to autodrivers and bus conductors. .
Kinda late to comment on this post, but it sure is funny. I never faced this problem. Mine is exact opposite of yours. My Dad is Tamil, Mom is Telugu, I was born and brought up in Karnataka and I had to learn English and Hindi at school. I can read, write and speak these 5. And I can understand and manage to speak broken Malayalam.;-)
ReplyDeleteThat is really wonderful!! I can only envy you! I can add one more language to my list if u consider BASIC as a real language! :P
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