To Be a Fraud or Not
Well I had written an excerpt earlier about Fraud Mallus.Yup even I m a pure blooded Fraud Mallu slowly being evangelised into a complete Malayali.Atleast my stomach is completely Malayali :)..haute cuisine being kappa and meen curry..and chakka(jackfruit) perattiyathu and not to forget kanji :)
My first experiences of being the Fraud was in college when my monologues in my mother tongue were seen with contempt...(or may be sympathy).That was because of a huge mistake I made thinking, I had studied in Malluland for quite some time so I had 'picked' up the language in the required style.
When I moved to Trivandrum for my schooling,my first impression was this..Very orthodox town with no night life.All I could see were boards with sickles,hoardings of MohanLal and Mammotty,advertisments from jewellery shops and many more of the hum-ble and sim-ple malayali creations.My school in Trivandrum was fun and very eventful.I learned a
lot about the "smart Malyali".Of course words like paara, thalipolli, kidullam , edaa, jaada, pongacham became a part of my vocabulary.Anyway jokes apart,my idea was to finish the schooling and get out of this boring sleepy town ASAP.
But sometimes, when you run away from something,it clutches you and never wants to leave.It wants to teach you a lesson.I cried,screamed,yelled,went on a silent satyagraha(wicked..) but returned back barely after 3 months to the sleepy town :(.Again my goal was finish the damn college and get out of this place.But something happened, I mean, lots of things happened.After 4 years of living in the same place I had lived earlier, I fell in love...In love with the dreadful monsoons,in love with the tonnes of hartals we were blessed with,in love with the Sharjah Shake(Milk SHake..Read that) in Ramya-Dhanya outside our college,in love with the Shanghumugham beach and Vettucad church,in love with kanji and thenga(coconut) chutney,in love with the crowded green line buses with people bringing vegetables and fish in the morning and surprisingly even in love with the crowd and their colloquial style.
My folks were pretty strict about my third language in school.They did all their best to introduce and invent the Mallu in me.It was funny in the beginning because for a long time I remember speaking in the Queen's language and spoken to in the native language.They introduced and reintroduced.But I was introduced to the Real Malayali in gollege.The Malayali who knew the meaning of every damn word in her/his GRE textbook(by..he-art) but would speak 'pacha' Malayalam.The Malayali who knew the local politics like the back of her hand and every scandal in every town.The Malayali who thought having a 'meesha', is a sign a matured man in gollege.I was being imbibed into this day by day.I do not know how my classmates perceived me in the beginning,but at the end of 4 years my parents were surprised with my friends.Instead of being a part of CBSE/ISC educated english speaking mallu classmates,my friends were humble small town real Malayalees.Yup after 4 years,I wanted to leave the town,but with a difference. With a
difference in my perspective.
Ya only thing,my parents sometimes are awestruck when I translate Comedy thamashaas to Fraud Mallus and my folks think I have edited my Queens language.
Well I had written an excerpt earlier about Fraud Mallus.Yup even I m a pure blooded Fraud Mallu slowly being evangelised into a complete Malayali.Atleast my stomach is completely Malayali :)..haute cuisine being kappa and meen curry..and chakka(jackfruit) perattiyathu and not to forget kanji :)
My first experiences of being the Fraud was in college when my monologues in my mother tongue were seen with contempt...(or may be sympathy).That was because of a huge mistake I made thinking, I had studied in Malluland for quite some time so I had 'picked' up the language in the required style.
When I moved to Trivandrum for my schooling,my first impression was this..Very orthodox town with no night life.All I could see were boards with sickles,hoardings of MohanLal and Mammotty,advertisments from jewellery shops and many more of the hum-ble and sim-ple malayali creations.My school in Trivandrum was fun and very eventful.I learned a
lot about the "smart Malyali".Of course words like paara, thalipolli, kidullam , edaa, jaada, pongacham became a part of my vocabulary.Anyway jokes apart,my idea was to finish the schooling and get out of this boring sleepy town ASAP.
But sometimes, when you run away from something,it clutches you and never wants to leave.It wants to teach you a lesson.I cried,screamed,yelled,went on a silent satyagraha(wicked..) but returned back barely after 3 months to the sleepy town :(.Again my goal was finish the damn college and get out of this place.But something happened, I mean, lots of things happened.After 4 years of living in the same place I had lived earlier, I fell in love...In love with the dreadful monsoons,in love with the tonnes of hartals we were blessed with,in love with the Sharjah Shake(Milk SHake..Read that) in Ramya-Dhanya outside our college,in love with the Shanghumugham beach and Vettucad church,in love with kanji and thenga(coconut) chutney,in love with the crowded green line buses with people bringing vegetables and fish in the morning and surprisingly even in love with the crowd and their colloquial style.
My folks were pretty strict about my third language in school.They did all their best to introduce and invent the Mallu in me.It was funny in the beginning because for a long time I remember speaking in the Queen's language and spoken to in the native language.They introduced and reintroduced.But I was introduced to the Real Malayali in gollege.The Malayali who knew the meaning of every damn word in her/his GRE textbook(by..he-art) but would speak 'pacha' Malayalam.The Malayali who knew the local politics like the back of her hand and every scandal in every town.The Malayali who thought having a 'meesha', is a sign a matured man in gollege.I was being imbibed into this day by day.I do not know how my classmates perceived me in the beginning,but at the end of 4 years my parents were surprised with my friends.Instead of being a part of CBSE/ISC educated english speaking mallu classmates,my friends were humble small town real Malayalees.Yup after 4 years,I wanted to leave the town,but with a difference. With a
difference in my perspective.
Ya only thing,my parents sometimes are awestruck when I translate Comedy thamashaas to Fraud Mallus and my folks think I have edited my Queens language.
posted by malaika at 7:40 AM
