Tumhare Kapade utaaro

ashwiniks79 · Feb 10, 2010

All of a sudden out of nowhere I remembered this lady who made this statement and I just couldn’t hold my laugh, thought I will share this with all of you guys.
This aunty was the landlady of the house we had rented in Bangalore. There were 4 houses all together in that building and another tenant was a north Indian family, a couple and 2 kids. They couldn’t speak kannada and the landlady aunty was so very eager to speak to the north Indian lady(Meera)in Hindi that she didn’t realize the blunders she used to make and the hilarious incidents that followed them, putting Meera in deep embarrassment. :drowning
It so happened that this aunty one day shouted on the top of her voice “Meera tumhare kapade utaaro" :spinand of course Meera was shocked, angry and confused what is this lady blabbering and all of us who heard this were in the same situation too.
Meera comes out to the window and asks “Aunty ji yeah kya bol rahi hein aap?” “Aiyoo upar se paani paani tumhare kapade utaaro” was auntie’s reply. Um...Hmm Meera still doesn’t understand this and so all of us:rant. Aunty now explains…”Akasha se paani paani shuru naa …jaldi jaldi kapade utaaro” she said pointing towards the sky.
I was listening to the whole conversation and understood that it had just started to rain and Meera had hung washed clothes to dry in air on the terrace and the aunty was just telling her to take them out before they all got drenched in rain. So tumhare kapade utaaro, upar se paani paani now made sense to all of us. :bonk
Me and my sister still use those golden words when it is about to rain and we had to bring the dried clothes back though this incident is more than 15 years old.
This is just one of the funny Hindi conversations that took place and I today I remembered when it is continuously snowing in Chicago since yesterday…
Cheers,
-Ashwini

knot2share · Feb 10, 2010

That was hilarious Ashwini :thumbsup. At the moment idhar akasha se paani paani situation hone wala lagta hain. So mein kapade utaarne chalti hun!! hehehehe.........So sweet of that landlady.

Padmini · Feb 10, 2010

Dear Ashwin,
Had a heartywhen I was going through the post I recollected the incidents that happened to me.By your narration, I visualized the whole scene and began to:rotfl. My DH stared at me !!
Some times our poor knowledge in other language leads us to this sort of funny situations.
with love
pad

Mindian · Feb 10, 2010

hi ashwini,

a BIG welcome to snippets ..and especially if you have hilarious ones like this to share

yes, so many south indians in mubai have learnt hindi and made so many blunders :rotflan aunt of mine for the life of her cant say"uske baadh " she still says"uska peeche..."

another one thought aat was cheaper than paanch and kept arguing with the sabziwaalah.imagine the poor guys surprise when he offered to give her in paanch and she insisted on getting it for aat :rotfl:rotfl

a good one now i might also start using as idhar tho hamesha kapda utharna padtha hai kyo ki upar se paani paani hamesha girthi hai:biglaugh

Meenupanicker · Feb 10, 2010

Dear Aswini

Seeing the title I was a bit confused but now the confusion changed to:biglaugh:biglaugh:biglaugh visualising the whole situation.Enjoyed your writing

Thank you

feduptocore · Feb 10, 2010

Hi Ashwini too funny... I just remembered a similar faux pas by my MIL (bengali) one day with the vegetable vendor ... she waiting in the crowd and that guy was asking everybody but her and when her turn came atlast whilst serving her he took someone elses order so conversation was like this..

MIL " hey bhaisaab, tum kya karta hai, mein pehle aaya to tumje pakad kar kyoi aur ko kyun parkta hai? pehlje muje theek pakado uske baad kisi aur ko pakado!!!
(translation would be brother, i came first, so hold me first properly and then hold someone else!!!)

It was so hilarious i just burst out laughing and the shopkeeper was aghast!! my MIL was of-course fuming and not knowing what the problem later on when i told her was she was embarrassed!!
but really sometimes we can make a hash of a language if we don't know it.. i always wonder what my maid understands with my few words of kananda!!
K

Tubelight · Feb 10, 2010

:biglaugh

Just imagining the look on the poor soul's face ! Kapde utaar !:rotfl

Poor knowledge of languages can really put people in all sorts of funny fixes. In south Indian languages itself, there are so many similar words with vastly different meaning in the other language.

One instance I can't forget is a feast where they were serving the sweet which is called Holige in kannada and Poli in Tamil. But generally Tamilians pronounce Poli as Boli . This word, I think you know, is a very rude kannada word used as an abuse against women. So this Server, carrying the basket of Holiges, was speeding off in the opposite direction, when suddenly a Tamilian guest called out " Hey, hullo, Boli ! illi baa !"
The poor man couldn't understand why there was a stunned silence and roaring laughter after that.

mohantina · Feb 10, 2010

Very funny........double meaning.........

iyerviji · Feb 10, 2010

Dear Aswini

Hilarious post. If we do not know the language properly it creates problem for the other person. It seems a Kerala iyer got married to a Madrasi Iyer. One day after marriage he told his wife to keep Kuzambu in the bathroom. In taimil kuzambu means sambhar and his wife thought whyhe is saying to keep sambhar in the bathroom. Still she kept the Sambhar in the bathroom. When the man saw the Sambhar kept in the bathroom he called his wife and told her I told you to keep Kuzambu. Her sis in law understood that she did not know that kuzambu means thailam (oil for massage}.
Between kerala tamil and madrasi tamil only there is lot of difference.

Enjoyed your post

love
viji

jaishree9 · Feb 10, 2010

Hi
funny incidence . Meera must be pani pani hogayi hogi sharm se!

I remember a joke reading this -

As is usual even in social gatherings when one meets a doctor starts asking advise about their comaplaints & poor guy is just left giving free consultation.
Fed up with this when faced again with this behaviour The doctor uttered loudly to the person telling about his aliement to take his clothes off so that he can examine him right there.:rotfl
After that the doctor was left in peace to enjoy the party.