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Delhi blues

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by lgirish, Jan 16, 2012.

  1. lgirish

    lgirish Platinum IL'ite

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    This happened when I was new to Delhi. My Hindi knowledge was very limited . I was working in Central Secretariat and had to catch a bus from my place of residence. There were many private buses (literally dubba) and DTC. The route board would be mostly in Hindi and with my limited knowledge before I could read the name board the bus would leave. The name board of DTC buses were mostly written on black board with a chalk piece. Imagine my plight when reading even a printed matter was an uphill task how would I read manuscript written with chalk piece. Most of the buses would go to `daftar`. I used to patiently wait for Secretariat bus and reach office late until one fine day when I learnt that `daftar` was nothing but Central secretariat. A friend of mine once was travelling in a bus and a blind man sat near her. When the place she had to get down was nearing she was very anxious how to tell the man to move so that she could get down. Her hindi knowledge was poor like me. After debating with herself atlast she decided to say `bhaiya main ja rahi hoon` which means brother I am going . She had heard her room mates saying main ja rahi hoon when they left for office. She added bhaiya as was the practice to address strange men. We had a hilarious laugh when she narrated this later. We made fun saying `did the man say teek hai pyari behna as though she was going vidai after marriage and hug her`!Many such hilarious incidents took place due to language problem.:rotfl
     
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  2. haagesummane

    haagesummane Gold IL'ite

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    lgirishji,

    That was a funny incident occured to ur friend. Well we feel so awkward when we goto a place and cannot mingle with locals becos of language..It was a difficult part on me when I was in hyderabad and was not knowing anything abt telugu..!!! Now its not a problem...
     
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  3. deepa10

    deepa10 Gold IL'ite

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    OOPS!!! :) That s really funny... Good that you learnt some hindi by that way!!
     
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  4. lgirish

    lgirish Platinum IL'ite

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    Another funny incident narrated by my SIL when she was practicing medicine in Delhi. She was new to Delhi and knew very few practical sentences. When a patient came with stomach ache she asked him 'peshab peete ho?'The fellow was dumbstuck and couldn't reply. Then a colleague explained the meaning that she meant if the patient drinks..... instead of sharaab (wine etc.,)
     
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  5. RadiantFlower

    RadiantFlower Platinum IL'ite

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    :biglaugh

    Oh, I nearly split my sides laughing! :rotfl
     
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  6. iyerviji

    iyerviji Finest Post Winner

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    That was very interesting to read Girish dear. Its really difficult when you dont know the language. When I was new to Bombay when I read BEST buses I thought these buses were the best. This is not actually language problem. Then I heard the conductor say Kismet wale uthar jao. I thought he is saying only lucky people should get down. Then only later I understood that there was a Cinema House named Kismat.
     
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  7. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    aS A dELJIITE i CAN SAY THE TRANSPORT SITUATION HAS IM0PROVED. bUSES CARRY SIGNS BOTH IN eNGLISH AND hINDI. bUT FOR A PERSON GOING TO c ENTRAL SECRETARIAT, THE SITUATION EVEN EARLIER WAS NOT BAD BECAUSE THERE WERE LOT OF CHARTERED BUSES THAT WAITED ON THE OTHER SIDE OF SOUTH BLOCK. nOW THERE IS ALSO METRO THOUGH IT IS A BIT OF A WALK FROM rAIL bJAVAM SI9DE.
     
  8. lgirish

    lgirish Platinum IL'ite

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    yeah I know the transport in Delhi has improved a lot since my hostel days there. Those days chartered buses were used only by people staying in far off places. As I was staying in Lodhi road and later in mandir marg I used to take DTC and DTC undertaking buses to office. I visited Delhi 3 yrs back again and found the place quite good in terms of traffic regulation.I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there.
     
  9. iyerviji

    iyerviji Finest Post Winner

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    I think you did not notice my fb
     
  10. lgirish

    lgirish Platinum IL'ite

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    how did I fail to notice my loving viji ma'am's feed back? Yeah in the initial days it is very difficult to understand a new language. I used to mix a lot of English words in between to convey what I wanted. I should appreciate one thing-my colleagues never made fun of my Hindi but encouraged me to learn more. It was a mixed crowd in office punjabis, bengalis, biharis, rajasthanis, tamilians, malayalis, andhrites and what not. I particularly remember one punjabi girl brought up in Allahabad whose Hindi was so chaste, never a mix of any other dialect.Another Bhatnagar girl was with me to whom I owe thanks for teaching me Hindi. At last people made fun saying my Hindi got better and hers worse.Even I used to wonder why Mumbai buses are called BEST buses. Only later I learnt why.
     
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