Tag: Marathi

Kooja.

This is called kooja in Tamil and Phirkicha Tambya in Marathi. It is a vessel with a screw on cap which used to be store and carry drinking water.

Pre-filled plastic bottles have now replaced these but, during my childhood this was seen during all train and bus journeys.

The following image is a caricature of an Indian politician with two yes men behind him.
Yes men are till today called Koojas in Tamil Nadu as they used to carry water for their bosses in such vessels.

In Hindi and other North Indian languages, they are called chamchas the original word still used in regular conversations means a spoon.

Have you ever been a kooja/chamcha or had one? I have both.

Mother Tongue.

The above image is just the tip of the iceberg in India. According to the Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. With that background, let me tell you my problem/s.

My late mother’s tongue was a mixture of Malayalam and Tamil spoken by a community called Palghat Iyers. My late father’s was pure Tamil. In deference to the latter’s comfort, the former changed to speaking the Tamil spoken by the latter and so I grew up speaking that Tamil.

What is my Mother Tongue?

My late wife’s mother was a Telugu, and her father was a Bengali. They spoke Urdu or English at home and my wife did not know either Telugu or Bengali.

At our home, we spoke mostly English and Hindi  now,  and our son grew up using both.

What is my son’s Mother Tongue?

My daughter in love’s mother is a Bengali and her late father was a Maharashtrian. She grew up speaking Marathi at her home. She has moved into our home where she too speaks Hindi and English mostly but, Marathi for effect when needed.

Just supposing I get a grandchild what will be her/his Mother Tongue?

How do I solve this conundrum when the census taker comes visiting?

Friendship!

I have known AC for near half a century and we have been colleagues on two occasions too. We exchange messages on WhatsApp everyday without fail and usually they are either messages that inspire or tickle our funny bones.

Today he sent me a message in Marathi and English, reading as follows.

एके काळचा पुण्यातला पेन्शनर. 🙂

Resembling you. 🙂

These messages inculded an image:

The Marathi part of the message translates to: “Experienced Veteran Pensioner of Pune.”

Pune, the city where both of us live now, used to be called “The Pensioners’ Paradise” when we first moved in 1990. While there are many features of that lifestyle still available, the city has changed into a modern one like any other Indian big city with large industries and Information Technology organisations.

I suspect that what AC means is that he believes that I have been a pensioner ever since I moved to Pune thirty years ago! In other words, although we were colleagues for five of them, I never worked and just got paid for attending office!

Some friend!

A New Friend.

The star of that show is Parag Kanhere who is a Television Celebrity Chef who regularly appears in Marathi(the local language of the state we live in, Maharashtra) cookery shows.

Last week when we had gone out to celebrate our freedom, my sister Padmini, son Ranjan and his friend Manjiri decided to go to a new restaurant in our neighbourhood called CANDYZ BISTRO. To cut a long story short, we had a grand evening out and had some truly delicious food specially hustled up for us by the Chef personally. That Chef is Parag Kanhere and he is also the owner of the bistro. This is a photo of Parag taken while he was suggesting our meal.

Here is the leaflet that I picked up on my way out. Please click on the image to enlarge it.

Parag was most engaging and pleasant and his recommendations turned out to be just what would appeal to four different tastes. At the end of the meal, I had promised to blog about our visit to his restaurant to Parag and am just finding the time to do so.

Parag, I hope that you are reading this. All four of us thoroughly enjoyed your hospitality and wish you all success in this new venture. You can expect us repeatedly back again at Candyz.