I think I was am having blogger’s block. I couldnt think of single topic to write on. And yet there are so many things I want to write about.
Anyways, Parul wrote an awesome post and I thought I would just steal her idea and write one myself.
Stranger:Which part of India are you from?
Me:Not from India.
S:You are dark, you must be a Tamilian
Me:Nope, I am from Singapore.
S:Where is your mom from?
Me:UP
S: Dad?
Me:Born and Brought up in Singapore,just like me
S:What is your mother tongue?
Me:Bhojpuri, we grew up speaking that, after I got married I learnt proper filmy Hindi.
S: Do you read/write Hindi?
Me:Nope
And on and on, it would go. Why does it matter what I speak or where my dad came from. Not only that, sometimes some people would ask me to say something in Bhojpuri to them. To prove what? If I am in a nice mood, I would tell the story of how my dada came to Singapore before WW II and had a cow farm there. Then he went back and go married to my dadi. They had quite a bunch of kids(4 chachas and 2 bhuas all in Singapore) and then my dad got married in India and had us. Then I got married to NK and moved to America. If I am in a nice mood.
am glad you were in a nice mood when you wrote this post!! :p
so say na something! in Bhojpuri!
cheers!
Me: We use a lot of “lu” at the end of our sentence, kailu, bolbu..:)
ok. what happens if u are not in a good mood? what do u say then? that’s what I want to know.
Me:2 quick examples of when I got pissed off. One was a punjabi lady going on about my maiden surname and NK’s last name and whether we are Maharashtrians.blah blah. I then told her, “App itna kyu pooche rahi ho Maine jab NK se shaadi kiya tab bhi itna nahi pucho hoga”
That punjabi lady ignored me for the next 2 years untilw e moved here..
Another time, another lady kept on it, and I told her..”App mere ghaar rista lay kar aah rahe ho kya inta pooch raho ” All said with a bitchy eveil smile.
I am so evil that you would never want to meet me.
Arrey and what about… but what do you speak to your children in?
Dont you get that?
Yeah and say something in Bhojpuri! Prove it…. hehehehehe
Me:Mostly English and some hindi. Bhojpuri words.. I remember one time,early in my marriage, we(Nk and I)were walking on a road and I wanted to cross it. I said.. road heilo(am writing it the word I pronunced it) and he said whats heilo..its paar karlo. And I use chinni never shakaar, banta is baigan
As your traffic feed would tell you, I have been hanging around here for the past few hours pouring over your archives. Your kids are super sweet! And oh, we are neighbors. We recently moved to the Bay area as well.
Me:Welcome.. I hopped over to your blog and read about your travels. Death Valley sounds fun.
I think people might be asking you questions about you because they are interested! It doesn’t necessarily “matter” but it’s just nice to hear about other’s people stories/life.
Me:Maybe. then again maybe not. If I already said I am from Singapore, how does it matter where my mom/dad are from. They do it to quickly form gangs and go in their different corners.
you know desis take pride in the fact that they can trace where their great great great grand dad came from and u are evn judged on what he did. Singapore still sounds exotic and therfore calls for follow up questiosn. Random strangers are not satisfied when I say Delhi. And my grandfather was born and brought up in Delhi too. But they want to know how we got settled there coz apparently no body is from Delhi, u just move there. So now I say, I am a Punjabi from Delhi who has (till date) never been to Punjab
Me: Can you imagine the questions my kids will face. Arghh