I am the Sleeping Beauty :-)

RS had asked me ages and ages ago to try this one. I did, but didn't put up the results here. So here goes
I am Aurora (a name which I adore incidentally), the Sleeping Beauty.
I am just happy I missed being Goofy by a whisker :-P
So what are you?

You Scored as Sleeping Beauty Your alter ego is Princess Aurora, a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty! You are beautiful and enchanting, and as sweet as ever. Sleeping Beauty 75% Goofy 69% Peter Pan 63% Cruella De Ville 56% Snow White 50% The Beast 50% Pinocchio 38% Donald Duck 31% Ariel 25% Cinderella 25%

The heights of ridiculousness is  an aging Jeetendra dancing the snake dance in a snake costume with Madhvi in the below video. *Snicker*



And he used to be such a good actor too. Can't believe this is the same guy who was in Parichay..

The things my life revolves around....

My extended family and I had some great plans for tomorrow.

It was something that was planned for a whole week by me and I had convinced every one to make their calendars free so that we could enjoy the day out.
You need to be around my family to know what a difficult proposition that is.

So anyways all was set and we got our things ready and what not, when the phone rang!
Apparently this very important gentleman was planning to come to our locality tomorrow and if we were available tomorrow he would come home, else he could not promise any other dates in the near future.

Since the gentleman's schedule was rather packed, we have been strictly told to reschedule our plans for another convenient date. I realized then, the things that my life accommodates and revolves around :-P

The gentleman is coming from http://kuppathotti.com/ to buy our trash, and apparently we have over 3 months worth of old newspapers and milk covers collected at home.

My thoughts this week!

=> Had gone with my friend to this Tanjore painting gallery and shop in mylapore. Was great. They had some awesome stuff. Which is saying something, coz I dont particularly care for Tanjore paintings. I have always thought they were too bright and garish. My friend though was going crazy with all the choices.

Even I was tempted to buy a piece or two. (Despite the prices being a little too steep)

But I didnt. I have great respect for people who decorate their houses with these paintings and what not, but if I buy them, they will be carefully wrapped and stored in my loft.
Dust catchers! That is my first thought. How would I clean those things regularly if I put them up. Worse! how will I live with them if they are dusty.
So decided to save myself the money and the pain and just admire them in the shop and come back and feeling quite righteous about it too ..hehe

=> Ponds Dreamflower .. that pink talcum powder box ... They have changed the box and they have changed the perfume of the powder.. Aaargh! Have the Ponds people not heard about not trying to repair a working machine. The perfume of the old talcum was sooo good, the new one is too strong and just no good.. hmph! Idiots


=> Its my considered opinion that John Keats would have written an Ode to a cuckoo and not a nightingale, if he had had the opportunity to listen to one. I have been rather curious about what the big deal is. Everywhere the nightingale is praised, from poetry to fairy tales to titles (Nightingale of India - Sarojini Naidu). And the poor cuckoo has only been degraded (atleast in the English language). I mean have you heard of anyone being  titled the Cuckoo of India?

Well! here is how a nightingale sings ... Now don't you think a cuckoo sounds better? (Unless it sings right outside your bedroom window every morning at 3, of course).
And so I thought since its the IN thing to fight for someone, everyone and anyone's rights, I would fight for the rights of the Cuckoo bird :-). Interested in Joining?
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Shareauto Tales

PSR has been telling me for sometime that I must write about my shareauto tales. The traffic gives me the heebie jeebies and hence I do not drive. That means public transport. Since taking a bus at the peak hour is not even worth mentioning and regular autos are way too expensive for daily travel, that leaves shareautos.

It gives me a chance to see the human race at its weirdest.

Before I tell you anything more, you really need to understand the concept of shareauto. Its a large auto or small van, where the people (mostly the IT ppl) are stuffed like salmon in a tin can. The drivers try to take in as many people as (in)humanly possible. Sometimes as many as 13-14 people travel in one auto. Idea is to make maximum money out of each trip.

=> To prove me wrong, just yesterday I noticed a poster in this romantic owned shareauto. It said "Valentines Day special - Couples can travel for free today". Sweet huh?! :-)

=>The other day. much to the irritation of the rest of us travellers, a drunk got in and promptly sat on a gal's lap. She squealed and moved away and got out ASAP. So now he was sitting between a lady and another guy. When the lady moved a bit forward to the window (probably coz of the smell next to her), the drunk fell on her. (I got kicked by him in the process and I was happy enough to crush his feet with my heels and aargh! the heels of my favourite pair of slippers broke and the man didn't even flinch. Though he removed his feet, I might as well have been a fly). Anyways after getting pushed off and threatened by the lady to take him to the police station, the man sat contentedly feeling himself up. So there we all were staring at him in disbelief. I can tell you there was a concerted rush to get out of the auto when it came to a stop.

=> Two young things, a gal and a guy were sitting in the back seat of the shareauto. We generally try to not let a 4th person sit, when 3 could sit more comfortably. But these YT all twined up together kept asking people to sit next to them. I was staring at them puzzled until i realised that it gave them a good reason to be pasted to each other. They were so entwined that the guy had to put his arm all around the girl, just to scratch his other arm.
Well! He has his arm around her shoulder and the rest as they is History. I should probably have averted my eyes .. Yeah right!!!! I sure had the satisfaction of seeing a rom-com movie until they got down one stop before me.

=> The softest hand that ever touched me was that of a 1.5 or so YO child. A lady got in with her school going kid and this child. Just a look at the kid and you could see he was a special child. He was attracted to my bright kurti sleeves and my handbag handle that kept moving with the autos movement.His hands were only as big as a newly born baby and so soft and tender. I let him play to his heart's content. But it hurt to think of the future in store for him and his family.

=> oh! The other day I got into this shareauto and I should have known better. Generally the seat next to the driver is occupied by men and there was a girl sitting there.It sent my antenna quivering but I was too sick to notice. As expected, it turned out to be the driver's girl friend and the auto kept getting stopped now and then, so they both could feed each other pop corn or coo at each other. By the time my stop came I was ready to break my laptop on both their heads.. sigh!!!

More to come...in meanwhile, feel free to add any experiences you might have had travelling.
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Langauge Snob

I am a language snob. More particularly an English language snob. While I dont claim to be any kind of master in the language, It drives me wild to see people use phrases and slangs without bothering to understand their meaning.

A case in point is this incident, which a friend related to me.

My friend was chatting with his colleague, who was deputed to the US, about staying late at work. In a bid to prove his mighty language skills and grasp of the slangs, the colleague concluded - "If I ever go home late, my wife would screw me".
My friend, after a stunned moment, was laughing too hard to continue with the conversation.

It is, therefore, only right that I sympathize with this author

Insults

These insults are from an era before the English language boiled down to
4-letter words. Got it as a forward. Couldn't resist putting it up here:-)


The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor:
She said, “If you were my husband I’d give you poison.”
He said, “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
===
A Member of Parliament to Disraeli: “Sir, you will either die on the
gallows or of some unspeakable disease.”
“That depends, Sir,” said Disraeli, “whether I embrace your policies or
your mistress.”
===
“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” -
Winston Churchill
===
“I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great
pleasure.” Clarence Darrow
===
“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the
dictionary.” - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
===
“Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I’ll waste no time reading
it.” - Moses Hadas
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“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved
of it.” - Mark Twain
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“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.” - Oscar
Wilde
===
“I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a
friend … if you have one.” - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
“Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second … if there is
one.” - Winston Churchill, in response.
===
“I feel so miserable without you; it’s almost like having you here.” -
Stephen Bishop
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“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” - John Bright
===
“I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it’s nothing trivial.”
- Irvin S. Cobb
===
“He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others.” -
Samuel Johnson
===
“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” - Paul Keating
===
“In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.” -
Charles, Count Talleyrand
===
Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?”
- Mark Twain
===
“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.” - Mae West
===
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” -
Oscar Wilde
===
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts … for support rather
than illumination.” - Andrew Lang (1844 – 1912)
===
“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” - Billy Wilder
===
“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” - Groucho
Marx
===

Weird news

We humans are such weird creatures

=> This guy's pet tarantula (why would any sane man want to have a pet giant spider is beyond me) threw some hair like mist at his face in a natural defense mechanism and he now has eye problems. The doctors have suggested that all people with pet tarantulas use protective eye gear when they are near it.

=> This person was adviced that his pet python????????????? was getting ready to have him for dinner.

=> This dog was choking and they found human fingers in his throat.

=> This one is really weird. This guy buys a cactus for hundreds of dollars and then pays a few more hundred at the customs, and when he finally gets it home, it starts shivering. There were .. *music* 100s of tarantulas or some such spiders growing inside the cactii getting ready to burst out and kill..


=> This lady sold 2 ghosts and made a mint. She had caught the ghosts of an old man and young girl and stuffed them in two vials. A company actually bought it and are now wondering what to do with it.. hmm!!!! talk about bottled spirits.

=> Beware of cute litle dogs that follow you, when u go to any sea shore during your vacation. This is most probably a huge rat, that you mistook for a dog.


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Monster Marauding Mickey Mouse and Me

Wow! I do have a way with alliterations, don't I?


I was jerked out of deep sleep and some really nice dream early in the morning. As I sat blearily staring at my clock trying to make out the time, I heard these tiny scratching noises.

Curious I walked to the bathroom door and put my ears to it and , true enough, thats where the sounds were coming from. With thoughts of monster cockroaches and what not, I dramatically put on the lights and swung open the bathroom door and THERE stood this evil mousey waving its paws nonchalantly at me.

Being the brave metropoliton girl that I am , I courageously eyeballed the monster, locked the door and did the smart thing. Ran to wake up mom and then climbed up the bay window so that I may get an uninterrupted view of the happenings.


Hmm! Now I am wondering how a mouse could have made entry into my bathroom and what to barricade to stop a repeat performance.


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@ Lunch

This was the conversation that happened today at lunch between me and a lady who was my friend's friend. I had just been introduced to her about 20 minutes ago.

Lady: (Suddenly turning to me) Are you married?
Me: Hmm! No
Lady: Are you iyer or iyengar ?
Me: uh! why?
Lady: Would be interested in marrying my brother?
Me: ohhh! hmmm! Ahhh! How did you know I was a Brahmin?

After my extremely witty repartee, I changed the subject. :-D
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Video Shoot and me

What can I say! the only time I had ever had a video camera pointed at me (not counting the stuff we do over vactions ofcourse) was during a training I took on interviewing. It was done quite professionally. There was a camera man with this big video camera and the room was rigged with lights and the whole set up was making me nervous as hell. And all this only to play the video back to me and give me the feedbacks on my interviewing skills.

So when two days back a colleague came to me and asked me to speak for a minute or so on a given set of topics for a video, I told him hell NO. Infact so uninterested was I, that loads of pressure from the powers-that-be had to be brought on until I had to capitualte.
Armed with advices on what to speak, what to wear (that grated hmph!) cursing them, I took all of 20 minutes to prepare some haphazard stuff.

But lets be honest, I still had that greasy nervous feeling at the bottom of my stomach at the thought of facing a video camera and also a bit of excitement. I had been told to speak slowly and that each sentence would be taken as a separate shot so that only part of my speech could be used if they so wished, editing, mixing and matching yada yada

Next day I was all made up and armed with a few lines that I had prepared when this organiser comes to let me know they are ready, and I postpone it. I postpone it, until my make up is all gone and I look tired as hell.
Then with no more excuses left , I follow the man to the location, with thoughts of those bright lights and huge camera,... only to enter this tiny conference room, containing just one other colleague with his canon digital camera to shoot the video and a mobile fone to record the audio and no hot bright lights.

hehe.. was not sure if I should laugh or cry. And after the 'shooting" was all done, I was told that after editing, my words might or might not be included in the final video. It all depended on the powers that be.
Anyways spent a day pretty excited over nothing and that was fun in its own way :-)

PS: I dont think I looked any good in the video, but when I asked them to reshoot it, the guy refused saying I was looking quite casual and that was what he wanted (like I care) ... hmph! trust me when I say, I am soo NOT looking forward for this video to come out.

PPS: They reshot the thing again. I dont think this was any better.. But my friend in the next seat begs to differ. I forgot all the lovely phrases and stuff I had written down in the original when I spoke this time :-(... Thats OK, coz I am still not looking forward to the video.
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Tempest in a Tea Cup

The Continental Airlines frisked the esteemed ex-president and great Indian scientist Dr. Abdul Kalam and he blew it off as part of their job, and the whole news died a swift death (though I was honestly flabbergaster and enraged by the incident). The horrible thing was that it took place in the Indian soil and the great man was undettered.

Shah Rukh Khan goes to US and when he is detained for a measly 2 hours and questioned, he creates such a hullobullo that even the Civil Aviation minister Praful patel had to threaten with the wrath of God.

Now SRK has been going around making grand statements about never setting his foot on the US Soil again (until the next time he has to visit there, ofcourse) And he has actually given some kind of press statement about wanting to frisk Angelina Jolie, who is expected to come to India in the near future, to show how traumatic the whole process was for him .. DUH UH!!!!


Come on gimme a break.. can anyone in the press not see the difference between true maturity and greatness and the spoilt tantrum of a popularity hungering actor?


PS: Really, I think this is SRK's excuse of putting into words his fantasies about Angelina Jolie, rather than any actual revenge against anyone.. What say? *smirk*

Beauty and Brains

I wonder why the beauty and brains become mutually exclusive when the gals n guys enter a beauty paegent. Some people like Sushmita sen, do give me some hope (note I am not including Aish here), but invariably the brains seem to leak out of their ears.

The latest example for this was an interview in one of the famous news channels with the Miss. India-Universe (whose name I can really not be bothered to remember).
The lady was loaded with shopping bags and standing in front of a shopping mall all set to start her christmas shopping.
When the reporter seeing her all set, asked her what she wanted from Santa this christmas. Pat came the reply from the Miss Universe-hopeful "I am not at all materialistic. If Santa were to give me something, I would want ... (no prizes for guessing) World peace"
Well! Duh uh! I was not sure if I should gag or snicker.
I did snicker though when the reporter came back with a "Since we can't buy world peace at the mall.. why don't u just tell us what you plan to buy"

Honestly!! These gals must be taught to say something original or atleast different whenever a mike is stuck in front of their face.... World peace is postively going stale ... *smirk*

Perspective :-)

So there we were chugging down the interstate towards Las Vegas or was it Red Rock Canyon..ummm
anyways it was evening and the 8 of us were singing our hearts out on the way to enjoy the long weekend in Las Vegas and its environs .. when what should happen but that we lose our way. It was getting on to be dark and we had taken an exit to ask our way back and there was hardly anyone around.
Worried, we were glancing around, discussing what to do next, when this lady walked out of the gas station to her car.

My friend, who was driving, immensely glad to see a human around at last, picked up the paper with the route on it and went hurrying towards her.
The lady gave him a most startled look and went running and scrambled into her car and locked it. My poor friend was waving the paper at her and only got a face full of exhaust fumes and sand for his attempt. By then we had come out of the car and were laughing at his befuddled face.
Maybe she thought he was thug or something . We were just grateful, she did not start screaming or pick up a gun and shoot him or something.
Of course we eventually found our way out and had great fun teasing him about frightening ladies in the dark.
While it was just a case of our missing someone to guide us out and startling a lady in the process for us...
What a story that lady would have had, to tell her family and friends.
There she was, late in the evening, in a deserted gas station, when a van stops and this strange foreign guy, in leather jacket and stubble, gets out from it waving a paper and walks straight to her. *Phew* straight from a movie with murder and mayhem, no wonder she went running. She probably spent the next few months thinking she had had a very close shave with something very dangerous.
Funny how perspectives work na?

Sari on Women's day!

I have already let you all know about my feelings on Women's day.

Nevertheless when all the ladies (of which we are 4) in my project decided to wear sari and I tagged along too.
We entered the office and met our PM at the elevators, the guy who has never bothered to smile before, suddenly had a huge smile and a big hello for us.

By some weird coincidence all four of us entered the ODC at the same time.
The reaction was quite explosive and very amusing.

Today I knew what the models feel when they walk the ramp.
There was such a huge exhalation of surprise from the guys (of which there are many)... that people from other projects started peeking in to see what the hungama was :-)

One kid could not stand the excitement of seeing everyone in sari... he kept running around trying to see who else was in sari.
Everyone came down to our place to ask what was so special. I shan't even talk about the reaction when we walked into the cafeteria. :-)

Of course we also got sarcastic comments about how much of a shock wave it creates to see a woman in sari as they hardly wear it anymore.
And then some of the guys started cribbing about how unfair it was that there was only a women's day and not a men's day ... on which they could wear dhothi. (Guys I couldn’t agree more!!! Let us just start treating y’all like women are generally treated in the society and we shall not only have a Men’s day but I shall initiate the whole process too :-))

So far we have been getting a lot of compliments and getting teased to death. But the day is still young... let’s see what else it has in store for us.

PS: well waddya know … this is my 100th Post :-) … Thanks to all my readers (who I like to think are galore :-D) for having patiently read and commented on my many blogs.

The Olde Techies

Has ur father/ mother/ uncle/ aunt/ grandfather/ grandmother/ great uncle/ great aunt just discovered the world of computers and internet? Uhoh! you are in for a tough time.
Take it from a person who has experienced all (gives me quite a guru like aura to say things like this :-) )
Its amusing as hell and big time frustrating.

I remember attempting to teach couple of the "olde" gang the secrets of computers and literally coming to fisticuffs.
I had to explain why I was pressing every button." How do u know when you press this button, the system will boot?", " What exactly happens during the booting?", "How do I configure some xyz in the Windows?"...
Of course they would not take my word for it and so sighing, I tried to explain the intricacies in the labyrinth of computers and the Windows administration, only to get my head bitten off. "What are u talking about?, I do not understand anything, You just dont know how to teach"

Aargh! Finally we agreed to disagree and they went happily to an institute to learn what I was teaching them for free.
The next few weeks the house was filled with computer jargons :-) ... they could not speak a few words without including something related to computers.. gotta say it was kinda cute and amusing

You would think that it would all end there right???? Hah! thats what u think...Armed with their new found knowledge they keep trying to teach u how to send an email, how to use MS Word and every new thing that they have learned.... anything u say in ur defense will fall on deaf ears.
while that is exasperating enough what really got my goat was the patronising look they give when they think u have done something wrong by their standards.

While my mom was most amused by my plight... I wanted to bang my head on the monitor.


I got my dad a new cell phone that has all these fancy thingamagicks such as camera, email options, bluetooth and what nots. Half the time when we are walking on the roads and I am talking to him, I find I am talking to myself and dad has stopped way behind, having found something new to explore in his phone. He gets a huge kick out of taking a foto of something in his new camera phone and emailing it to his friends from it, then copying it to the desktop using bluetooth and taking a print out of it in his new printer. Needless to say our new printer/scanner/xerox machine has him beaming everytime he uses it.

But as the computers, cell phones and internet have brought a whole new exciting life to our elders that I find I really cannot begrudge their happiness in it.

Fone Funnies

I am still deciding if the hands free concept for phones is a curse or boon.

At least at the advent of hands-free, there used to be chunky equipment for the ear and mouth and a long black/white or whatever color wire dangling like a snake all over the person. Most times after couple of minutes of staring we could determine if the person was just plain crazy or was talking over the phone.

As usual technology had to put its long nose into this area too and spoilt everything. Now with Bluetooth and WiFi and what not, the hands-free has become so small as to be virtually unnoticeable. I have especially come to hate the Bluetooth after its booming popularity, here in US.

Why US? You ask. Simple. Half the people here are already crazy, so its all the more difficult to determine if the person sitting next to you, talking to himself /herself, is talking over the phone or just ahh... softheaded. Since loose hair is de rigueur, it is next to impossible to see if they have something attached to their ear or not.

Just today morning a passer-by on the road smiled and said good morning and I smiled back and wished him. He looked a little startled, then smiled and went along his way… only then I noticed the blasted Bluetooth dangling from his ear… he was wishing someone over the phone.

The other day a techno mad senior colleague stopped by my cubicle and started talking. Pulled out of whatever I was concentrating on, I could not make sense of what he was saying… I was getting increasingly confused until he stopped talking and proudly pointed to his... sigh!!! Yeah! New Bluetooth.

So the next time I was walking by his desk and heard him talking, I blithely assumed he was on the phone and continued walking, until he called my name and asked where I was going when he was talking to me. :-p

Someday I am either going to hide the instrument or preferably throw it from the tallest building I can find here .. :-)But until I get the courage to do either its going to be one incident after another

Quote Me

I am easily satisfied with the very best.” - Winston Churchill (Me too!)

“-You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.
-What mood is that?
-Last-minute panic.”
Calvin & Hobbes ( Couldn't have said it better myself... umm probably why I didn't..:-p)

Your birth is a mistake you'll spend your whole life trying to correct.” -- Chuck Palahniuk

“Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words.” -Calvin & Hobbes (poor kid :-p)

When I was a kid I said to my Father one afternoon, "Will you take me to the zoo?" He answered, "If the zoo wants you, let them come and get you." -- Jerry Lewis

“People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world.” - Calvin & Hobbes (sighhh!!!)

“Who was the first guy that look at a cow and said," I think that I'll drink whatever comes out of those things when I squeeze them?” - Calvin & Hobbes (hey! never thought about that)

“Well, remember what you said, because in a day or two, I'll have a witty and blistering retort! You'll be devastated THEN!” - Calvin & Hobbes (Happens to me too :-D)

“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.” (hehehe)
Oscar Wilde s

“- "I've been thinking Hobbes --"
- "On a weekend?"
- "Well, it wasn't on purpose..."”
Calvin & Hobbes

“Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world's problems?” (yeah how?? :-?)
Calvin & Hobbes

“I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too, So we're really not that different, me and you.” Colin Raye s

“Don't walk away! I'm trying to apologize you dumb noodleloaf!” (Can't think of a better way to apologize :-p)
Calvin & Hobbes

Adam and Eve

I am sick and tired of people blaming Eve for all the evils in the world.

If Eve asked Adam to eat the forbidden fruit.. why did Adam not say No? Could he not speak or did God forget to give him a brain?

It is my considered opinion that Adam had probably always wanted to eat the forbidden fruit but was too spineless to incur the wrath of God. So the first chance he got to put the blame on poor Eve and eat the fruit too... he jumped for it.

Funny how from the time of creation till date the Adams are still blaming the Eves for everything.

What say gals????

A rose by another name…

There is a phrase in English Language “ A rose by another name”, which means describing the same thing by a different name or in a different way.
But when you land up in US, a rose by another name could well be a … Cauliflower.

The language spoken in US is called American. The misinformed mistake it to be English. While they can be forgiven, for this language uses the English alphabets, and the spelling and pronunciation is also similar to English, the difference in meanings can be enormous

Something most innocently said could be misconstrued enough to spoil one’s name :-)
One has to be careful about even one’s gestures.
Add with it the variety of accents and you can be sure of facing some embarrassing time.

The first time a friend innocently told an American that she was living with another girl … she got a really weird stare, until her room mate hastened to add that they were actually sharing a two bedroom apartment.

When I accidentally kicked my friend when waiting in a queue, I at once touched her hand and apologized… she squirmed and explained to me that while this is the way we apologize in India, I better not touch any girls here. And since then I have noticed that people rarely touch each other, unless they are of the opposite sex. Sigh!!! Gutter-mind. What can I say? :-D

The first day in office I went for lunch and there was this very foreign (to me) looking guy with a chef hat behind the counter and I pointed out the veggie looking stuff on display to him. He made some garbled noises in a guttural voice. I gave him a blank look and stood there wondering if he were talking to me in Russian or Spanish, and thinking he probably did not understand what I was asking I pointed the food again. He made the same noises again and looked at me like I was an alien creature. I gave a helpless look and asked him if he could speak slowly as I could not follow him… so he slowly and patiently asked again… ‘Dogoordoeadere’…. (To go or to eat here). *phew* it took me three tries to understand English ne..American that the chef was speaking all along

Throw in a potpourri of Indian, Spanish, African, European, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Middle Eastern languages and accents and speaking becomes a regular adventure.