Skip to main content

Bombay to Goa ... Lost in translation

This happened on the drive down North Goa yesterday. We were heading to the airport to catch our flight back to Mumbai. A nice air conditioned Wagon R (Rs 50 more for AC) and a very sweet, young Goan driver. A local Hindu, nicknamed Sam.

I slowly woke up midway and began to stretch after the coconut tree induced snooze. Suddenly Sam spoke out of the blue.

Sam: Sir, where are you from?

Me: Bombay (I normally use the M word on the blog)

Sam: Oh. Er what is happening to the new Shah Rukh Khan film? Will it get released?

(I am used to this. Years back on hearing I am from Mumbai, folks in Bangladesh had asked me when the then new SRK film, Kuch Kuch Hota Hain was going to release!)

Me: Well from the news it seems so.

Sam: The Sena is opposing, no? What is the problem?

Me: Well from what I know they are protesting because he wanted Pakistani players in his IPL team

Sam: So the Pakistanis won't play now

Me: No, I don't think so. Plus they can't hire more players now

Sam: This Shiv Sena makes life in Bombay difficult no?

Me: (wan smile)

Sam: I heard that they are like terrorists. They break everything all the time

Me: Well not 'all the time'. I wouldn't call them terrorists

Sam: But what is their problem?

Me: They have a central belief. They protest when things go against them. Actually there are two parties. One is Shev Sena. The other is... (I actually forgot the name of MNS at that point)...er the Sena

Sam: Oh, life in Bombay is tough

(My face became even sadder at the thought of the short holiday coming to an end)

But, what happened there? Did I just bat for the Shiv Sena. I guess being largely off booze and red meat at Goa made me delirious.
Labels:

Comments

Haddock said…
come to think of it, when I watch some good period films I see some disturbances in the background, and notice that there are some skirmish / arguments by the common people with a group of people who wear some sort of arm band which looks something like SS.
These same group of people later formed a greater group and had a "big" leader by the name of Hitler who finally brought a bad name for Germany.
I always wondered that if these small group of people were put in place in the early stage, would there have been a WW-II?
Any parallels here?
21 February 2010 at 01:58
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The importance of being 'Nyaka'

'Nyaka' is a Bengali term which beats translation. It could mean coy, coquettish, scheming, la di da. There is no one word which captures it. The term is used in a pejorative context and has a sarcastic tone to it. Used a bit more for women than for men. Has a feminine context when used for men. I posed the challenge of translating 'nyaka' into English to fellow Bengalis in Facebook. Here's a sample of the answers that I got. I have removed the names and kept the statuese as is, hope it's not too difficult to read Bong man 1 Coy.....but that does capture the essence 14 December at 14:37 · Me No ...not entirely. A colleague just suggested precocious. Maybe its too intrinsic a Bong trait to be translated :) 14 December at 14:50 · Bong woman 1 kol-lan, difficult to get a english / hindi word for nyaka. 14 December at 15:11 · me that's the point 14 December at 15:15 · Bong woman 2 oh, i think the essence of the word 'nyaka' will be lost in translation.
12 comments
Read more

3 Idiots over 3 D anyday

I slept through most of Avatar a few days back. I was sleep deprived. I had a heavy lunch before watching the film. But to be honest the story didn't engross me. I watched 3 Idiots this afternoon. I slept late last night. Didn't have my post breakfast Sunday nap. The show coincided with my Sunday afternoon ghoom or siesta... sacrosanct to the Bong Bhodrolok . I did not sleep in the movie. Yes, it took off from where Tare Zameen Par left. And the second half was Munna Bhai 3. K feels it had every cliche possible and that it is no Dead Poet's Society or even DevD . But I liked it. It was not new yet refreshing. There were cliches but it also made fun of cliches (the art house treatment of the Rastogi family poverty for example). The film oozed melodrama specially post the samosa break. Yet you could feel that the script writer hadn't left the building. The message of 'excel in what you are passionate about and success will follow' is something some of us tal
3 comments
Read more

Where will you be twenty years from now?

A taste of Mumbai It struck me the other day that it has been about twenty years since the time I took my first steps, albeit unwittingly, towards moving into Mumbai. I had been recruited by a market research agency in Kolkata from campus back then. I joined my new office once the MBA course was over. We were then sent to Mumbai for a training programme in August 1997. Once the course was over, my colleagues from Kolkata returned home. I was slated to stay back for a 2 month training programme in Mumbai which then stretched on for close to 6 months. I was put up at a PG in Bandra by my office then. Such  a long journey This was the first time that I was living away from home. All I wanted to do then was to get back to Kolkata as soon as I could. Go back and build a successful career in market research hopefully. Move to an apartment in a posher part of Kolkata than where we lived. At Ballygunge for example.  I thought it would be cool one day have a club membershi
Post a Comment
Read more