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Mee aahe marathi manoos…

Ashwin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:00:00 +0000

“You are Marathi?”. Yessir, mee aahe marathi manoos.

I could sell ice to an eskimo, but may find it tough when it comes to convincing people that I am a marathi manoos. I get passed off as a relocated keralaite, a gaothan catholic, or a nice telugu. Or sometimes as an alien.

Reason 1 – My diction. Not really the way Mumbaikars speak nor the way Punekars speak. My accent is a hybrid between the Pune and Nagpur styles. The old worldly style of Pune and the north influenced Nagpuri style combine strategically to ensure that I can never express myself clearly in Marathi.

Reason 2 – My looks. For all to see. I look like an import from some hypothetical fairy land. Deep eyes (yup, sunk into my eye sockets!), my colour (can easily comouflage as a zebra, thanks Dad, Mom for the stripes!), my structure (as regal as the royalty of some food starved country!).

Reason 3 – My name. The biggest drawback is the serious lack of “kar” in my name. With a surname like this, I pass of as an ancient Maori tribesman than a inhabitant of the Deccan Plateau.

But at the core, I am as marathi as I can be. I always refer to Kaalnirnay, I try and read some Diwali “ank“, I sit on the katta with friends when I am in Pune, use words like “chya aila“, I wear a Gandhi topi for Satya Nararayan puja, I say “Deva Ishwara Parameshwara Panduranga” to sigh, I still love Chimnarao, I have been saying Mumbai even when it was Bombay, I love Chitale’s chirote, and the Lonavala chikki. I still call people “bandya“ or “balu“. And in this day and age when parents talk to their child only in English, my wife and I always speak to our daughter in Marathi. Like mine, her sanskaar will always be true marathi!

Bargain!

Ashwin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:20:48 +0000

Amaan and Ashwini are very close friends of ours. In fact Amaan and I have been at biz school together. Now, Amaan, I must add, happens to be case study himself, but that will be another post.

In fact for quite years now, the four of us have been going out for movies and dinner together. Its fun to hang around with these guys. They are very much like us in most respects. Anyways, since there is so much comfort between us, we generally have a laugh riot most of the times.

I admire Amaan for one thing. He has this unique knack of bargaining at high value items – cars, TVs, etc. Me on the other hand am a complete sucker at these places. I once thought that I should buy a car. I requested Amaan to come with me for this for moral support. I am amazed at the complete nonchalance with which he asks for a discount of 60 grand and of course free central locking, body coloured bumpers and God knows what all. The better part of all this is that he gets his way! He loves it and that’s good. When I bought a 29” TV, he was disappointed that I did not ask him to come along.

Ashwini on the other hand is one person who looks like she could calm a volcano. She is one of those regal looking women – Diane Keaton types. She probably may not need to bargain. And since I have never seen her do that, the topic rests. But by their own admission, he and Ashwini cannot bargain at other places like book stores, apparel shops, furniture showrooms, bhajiwalas, and all the low value places. Apparently they feel awkward doing that!!!!

But Megs is the Queen in this segment. All the guy has to do is to tell her the price and she manages to cut the price down to half – well almost nearly! I remember the time when just before marriage Megs and I went out for a wedding of one of my office colleagues. She was not happy with the contraption that I called chappals. So she dragged me to Andheri station for a purchase of good old Kolhapuris. I chose one and asked for the price. “220” came the reply. As I dug into my pocket, Megs gave me a look that made me freeze in terror. She counter quoted “100”. I was shocked. And flew out of the tattered floaters I was wearing. I mean how can she say something like this and subject us to public humiliation? Won’t the guy think we are paupers? But the shocks did not end there…he agreed for 110 and I almost fainted. Did this really happen? And I mentally counted the crores I had lost by not learning this art of bargaining.

Not that I haven’t tried that. I tried using Amaan’s formula during my car purchase. Couldnt even get free floor mats, leave alone a car stereo! I guess I still have a long way to go, I think I will have to start small before jumping on to bigger ticket items!

Innocence

Ashwin — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 08:17:56 +0000

Sunday, I scolded Myra for not listening to me. She didn’t cry for long but the fear and more importantly the questions I saw in her tear filled eyes were agonizing. Megs was upset at me doing this, not for scolding Myra, but for the way I did it. Menacing she said. I realized I shouldn’t have done it. And while Megs said that Myra will not come to me again, the moment I held out my arms to her, the baby just came into them in a jiffy and hugged me tight. I felt all the more silly at my foolishness. Kids will be naughty and don’t mean a thing when they don’t listen to you. And they forgive you immediately. No questions asked and ignore the hurtful things said and done just minutes back.

Caught up with a few friends from MBA yesterday. It took about two weeks of planning to get this meeting, though Rahul very patiently was co-ordinating everyones time. I was the first one at Pamposh – God knows why they like this place. I waited for a whole 45 mins in the traffic and heat and dust for the guys to arrive. Rahul came after me, and we discovered that the God forsaken place was closed. Walked to Kabana, closed again. Then we drove to Banana Bar and it took us a while to get a parking place. Dali walked in next and PC 20 mins later. The good times were flowing, things old and new were discussed. And there was a collective nostalgia of the good old days. Generally I stop at a pint, but couldn’t help two yesterday. Feels good to meet up with friends and not talk work, but be simple again. There will be things that will be said and ignored, and then things that will not be said and ignored.

Realised, that while we go on in life, we forget to ignore things. We pay unwanted attention to things and complicate our own mind and heart. Everyone’s easy, but don’t want to come across that way. Everyone’s a child, then they just grow up.