Saturday, November 22, 2008

Why do I seek complexities? In the bookstore in the hometown (where I do my book shopping, far better than making funny faces at the suburb traffic), I head past the prettily arranged bestsellers, for the books in a language that continues to surprise; memories of Mrs. Arora in Class 7 patiently deciphering, unscrambling my stab-attempts at the language. Yes, another AP it is, ये कागज़, ये कलम, ये स्याही and I shall look at the words I don’t quite know, turn them over, seek connects with what it sort of sounds like; the strangest of interests for sure.

Returning from the bank the other day, we compete for a rick, yours truly and four pairs of tiny hands, shepherded by their mothers. Maybe I can give you a lift? Bhuma- Bhumika, Vrusha, Lakshmi, all pretty red checked pinafore and red ribbons kindergarteners, thank you for those lovely smiles; the pleasure was entirely mine.

4 comments:

quin browne said...

oh, i love that the ये कागज़, ये कलम, ये स्याही

i think to myself, you can taste those words when you'd hear them, i'll bet....

AmitL said...

Hi,Austy- you talking of Crossword in Baroda,or,the quaint bookshops along station roads??:)
----
Mrs. Arora?Which school were u in?And,nice to see such a memory come flooding back.:)
----
Haha to the rick competition.Small things,big meaning in life,always!!Far better than anything mega.You agree?:)

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but in my browser the signs/letters are not shown - so simply have to ask what language you refer to?
A child's smile is a universal language.

austere said...

mago- the sudden surprise of it all, when one is on a chore in the lunch hour, squeezing out the minutes.. the letters are in Hindi, and yes, it means- this paper, this pen and this ink. The author is Amrita Pritam, she was terrific.. I think you've read that story I have on the old roughpad:
http://roughpad.rediffblogs.com/2003_30_11_roughpad_archive.html

amit- the Crossword only, in Nutan Bharat/ Kunj- that luxury of space!
Navrachana- but you know that already. :)
hamari kaafi aam hee hotein hain.

quin: thank you for being suchhadarlin. paper, pen, ink...and check out that link pls pls.