This Sunday passed in a rather heated debate about what 12 o'clock is. I'm from a Kannadiga family and know a fair bit of Kannada. No ambiguity there as to what 12 o'clock is when the sun is shining and what 12 o'clock is when the sun went "Bye bye!" into the sea. No, right? It is either "Mata Mata Madhyana" or "Madhya Rathri." Why do I even know this? Lets chalk out a typical weekend/weekday (unemployed bum at home, FYI) 12:00 noon in the Swamy household:
Mom: (In the living room, on the ground floor) Maithri!
Me: (In my room on the first floor. Ear-phones plugged in, watching some mind-less television on my laptop and the fan is loud at "5") *Smiling like an idiot at the screen*
Mom: Maithri!
Me: *Still smiling like an idiot at the screen*
My mom walks the seventeen steps to the first floor and storms into my room.
Me: *STILL smiling like an idiot at the screen* (How loud is the fan that I don't even hear the door open??)
Mom: (yanking the earphones off of my ears) Did you go for a walk in the morning? (NEED physical exercise - 24 and 75 kgs :'( )
Me: *Staring silently at anything but her*
Mom: Did you water the plants? (Well, who wakes up at 9:00 am and waters the plants????)
Me: *Staring silently at the frozen blank screen in front of me*
Mom: Did you clean the floor of the bathroom? (Ha! Stew in that filth, you imbecile!)
Me: I'll do it now.
Mom: Not necessary. Yeladu madhyana; aamele shivana dhyana! (Direct translation: (add sarcasm) You have awoken in the afternoon and you expect to meditate in the name of Shiva! Apparently, Shiva is to be meditated to only early in the morning. Say your "Howdy dos!" because any other time, he will be very busy with his duties as The Destroyer.) Surya thale mele koothidane. Mata mata madhyanadalli gidakke neeru haaka beda! (The sun is sitting on our heads. Don't water the plants when the sun is at its highest in the sky. Pish-tosh! Actually, its not good for the plants. So--yes--that--fine.)
That's how I know what 12:00 noon is in Kannada. The same night, I was given a lesson in what I shouldn't be doing at "Madhya Rathri" (eating ice cream while I write this entry on this blog) and guess what time it was?? C'mon guess? (Pehchaan Kaun??)
Anyway, that day I had a rather unnecessarily long debate with my cousin about what "Mata mata madhyana" and "Madhya Rathri" is in The Queen's language. Turns out, all I had to do was Google that stuff and that sea of free knowledge (otherwise known as My Homework Buddy or Wikipedia) told me that in a 12 hour clock, 12:00 in the day is noon and 12:00 in the night is midnight.
Yes, it took all of the 24 years of my life to come to this stupid conclusion. I spent 24 years not knowing this or might have deleted this information somewhere along the way (Really??).
However, this made me realise how small bits of information like this slips out of our minds quite regularly and how, as we grow older, we cram our heads with "Ooh! That's how I'm going to get my next promotion" or, more famously, "That's what'll get him/her to like me!"
Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with planning for the future in good detail and working towards a desired outcome. However, is it really worth the loss of small bits of information like what makes our spouse flare his/her nostrils or what makes him/her blush so deeply, he/she can't meet your eyes? (Aich!! ;P)
I don't think so. It is not an epiphany of any sort, but, taking the time to ponder over this seemingly insignificant detail of mankind's existence got me thinking about why the smaller joys and the bigger problems get lost in a sea of our own whirlpool of--well--stuff. I, myself, am a slave to this and today, it helped me take a little step back and see my life as a whole, rather than a day-to-day struggle.
Hopefully, when I wake up tomorrow, I'll be able to keep this with me and be more accepting, as a person. Otherwise, I will imagine a horde of people (Yeah, right!) ridiculing me for writing a public post on a blog about it and still eating ice-cream at midnight while watching crap television. That ought to do it!
Mom: (In the living room, on the ground floor) Maithri!
Me: (In my room on the first floor. Ear-phones plugged in, watching some mind-less television on my laptop and the fan is loud at "5") *Smiling like an idiot at the screen*
Mom: Maithri!
Me: *Still smiling like an idiot at the screen*
My mom walks the seventeen steps to the first floor and storms into my room.
Me: *STILL smiling like an idiot at the screen* (How loud is the fan that I don't even hear the door open??)
Mom: (yanking the earphones off of my ears) Did you go for a walk in the morning? (NEED physical exercise - 24 and 75 kgs :'( )
Me: *Staring silently at anything but her*
Mom: Did you water the plants? (Well, who wakes up at 9:00 am and waters the plants????)
Me: *Staring silently at the frozen blank screen in front of me*
Mom: Did you clean the floor of the bathroom? (Ha! Stew in that filth, you imbecile!)
Me: I'll do it now.
Mom: Not necessary. Yeladu madhyana; aamele shivana dhyana! (Direct translation: (add sarcasm) You have awoken in the afternoon and you expect to meditate in the name of Shiva! Apparently, Shiva is to be meditated to only early in the morning. Say your "Howdy dos!" because any other time, he will be very busy with his duties as The Destroyer.) Surya thale mele koothidane. Mata mata madhyanadalli gidakke neeru haaka beda! (The sun is sitting on our heads. Don't water the plants when the sun is at its highest in the sky. Pish-tosh! Actually, its not good for the plants. So--yes--that--fine.)
That's how I know what 12:00 noon is in Kannada. The same night, I was given a lesson in what I shouldn't be doing at "Madhya Rathri" (eating ice cream while I write this entry on this blog) and guess what time it was?? C'mon guess? (Pehchaan Kaun??)
Anyway, that day I had a rather unnecessarily long debate with my cousin about what "Mata mata madhyana" and "Madhya Rathri" is in The Queen's language. Turns out, all I had to do was Google that stuff and that sea of free knowledge (otherwise known as My Homework Buddy or Wikipedia) told me that in a 12 hour clock, 12:00 in the day is noon and 12:00 in the night is midnight.
Yes, it took all of the 24 years of my life to come to this stupid conclusion. I spent 24 years not knowing this or might have deleted this information somewhere along the way (Really??).
However, this made me realise how small bits of information like this slips out of our minds quite regularly and how, as we grow older, we cram our heads with "Ooh! That's how I'm going to get my next promotion" or, more famously, "That's what'll get him/her to like me!"
Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with planning for the future in good detail and working towards a desired outcome. However, is it really worth the loss of small bits of information like what makes our spouse flare his/her nostrils or what makes him/her blush so deeply, he/she can't meet your eyes? (Aich!! ;P)
I don't think so. It is not an epiphany of any sort, but, taking the time to ponder over this seemingly insignificant detail of mankind's existence got me thinking about why the smaller joys and the bigger problems get lost in a sea of our own whirlpool of--well--stuff. I, myself, am a slave to this and today, it helped me take a little step back and see my life as a whole, rather than a day-to-day struggle.
Hopefully, when I wake up tomorrow, I'll be able to keep this with me and be more accepting, as a person. Otherwise, I will imagine a horde of people (Yeah, right!) ridiculing me for writing a public post on a blog about it and still eating ice-cream at midnight while watching crap television. That ought to do it!
No comments:
Post a Comment