(In this article i have used '$$' to denote my total failure in comprehending parts of conversations.Its not indicative of any slang and pertains to total respect for every language)
From the size of the cups, i could guess he was reffering to the quantity of coffee and quoting the price. I quickly opted for the large cup. Fortunately, my guess was correct.
Large coffee acquired.
I jumped on the rear-seat of his tattered auto, which vibrated every part of my body when the engine was revved.
"Ashok-pillar hot chips kitna bhaiyya?"
He replied: "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Rs.200 $$??"
Conveyance acquired.
We were at the CMBT bus-stand,trying to locate the pondicherry bus terminal. After my failed attempts to read from the information chart and locate the enquiry booth, i hit upon a group of conductors. They tried to explain me in their native language which ensued as follows " $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 200c $$$$$$$$$$$ EDA 20P $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" and a lot of hand-gestures.
200C and EDA 20P was the only filtered input to my ears. A 15-minutes break and then i saw the head of a deplorable state bus,marked as 200C make its much-awaited entry.
After 3-hours of agrestic view, we reached pondicherry.
Travel settled.
"numbers too have a language" remarked my roomie, a day after,when i was describing my experiences. "In spanish they don't say one, two, three...instead they say un, dos, tres " he continued "and every language has its own unicode format of writing numbers, its just that we don't use it so extensively, and thankGod for that."
He nudged the unperturbed truth....
In recent times, my career requisites and personal pursuits have taken me to some of the major places in southern part of India( & not south India which sounds as alien as south Korea). My jaunts have seen the privilege of air-hosting to the skank of local buses, from the vantage of resorts to the inhospitality of motels.
However, no matter how rude the locals seemed or how crude the situations have been, i managed to pull out with a smile and that was only because of 1 reason- 'Numbers don't have lannguage' !!
I was dropped at the 'CMBT bus stand in chennai'at the insanely hour of 3.45 in the dark. I could not have asked my friend to come over and receive me at this ungodly hour so i waited for some time. I went for a coffee and asked the irated gentleman "Anna(yep,i picked this on my way) 1 coffee, how much?"
"$$$$$$$$$Rs.10, $$$$$$ Rs.20 $$$$$"
From the size of the cups, i could guess he was reffering to the quantity of coffee and quoting the price. I quickly opted for the large cup. Fortunately, my guess was correct.
Large coffee acquired.
The clock was ticking at its leisurely pace and the sky was turning crimson, when i stepped out to take the most valiant step in any part of India. Hire a conveyance. Swarm of auto-drivers engulfed me in their vain attempt to explain me various schemes or whatever, in highly accented Tamil(i guess). Suddenly, a young chap played the ploy and uttered a few words in hindi "Sir, keeedar ko jaana?" I felt like rewarding this guy,with my wrist-watch.
"Ashok-pillar hot chips kitna bhaiyya?"
....but then i realized he played me fool. He knew just those 3 words of hindi, or so he pretended.
He replied: "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Rs.200 $$??"
After 5 minutes of a verbal duel in tamil(again,i guess) and hindi-english combo, in which only numbers were intelligible to each other,we settled at Rs.170.
Conveyance acquired.
We were at the CMBT bus-stand,trying to locate the pondicherry bus terminal. After my failed attempts to read from the information chart and locate the enquiry booth, i hit upon a group of conductors. They tried to explain me in their native language which ensued as follows " $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 200c $$$$$$$$$$$ EDA 20P $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" and a lot of hand-gestures.
200C and EDA 20P was the only filtered input to my ears. A 15-minutes break and then i saw the head of a deplorable state bus,marked as 200C make its much-awaited entry.
"Anna, pondicherry ?" i asked, to which he just nodded his head. Perhaps, sign is the only other language i could use in this part of my country,besides numbers.
After 3-hours of agrestic view, we reached pondicherry.
Travel settled.
"numbers too have a language" remarked my roomie, a day after,when i was describing my experiences. "In spanish they don't say one, two, three...instead they say un, dos, tres " he continued "and every language has its own unicode format of writing numbers, its just that we don't use it so extensively, and thankGod for that."
He nudged the unperturbed truth....
'touche'!!is all i could exclaim
....and yes,"Thank God for that ..." !!
