Ganda hendira jagala maava baruva thanaka!’ |
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Ganda hendira jagala maava baruva thanaka!’ |
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It was best of times; it was worst of times. It was
best of times for the producer of the hit Tamil film Kadalikka neramillai. It was
worst of times if your name was Viswanathan, a character in the film, whom
everybody liked to hate! A classmate of mine in Hubli, who spoke achcha Dharwad Kannada, went, after his medical degree, to Pondicherry for his post-graduation in anaesthesia. There he met his future wife, a mudaliyar, fell in love and married her. They came back to work in Karnataka. She was a pediatrician. They had a happily married life, as the expression goes. Between periods of ‘engagement’, there were phases of endearment. The rules of engagement were the same, as in any ‘sandai.’* The ratio varied from 80: 20 to 20: 80, depending upon the circumstances! As Sarvajna says, "ganda hendira jagaLa undu malaguva thanaka." When her father came to stay with them for a period of time, as in-laws often do, he began to see the smoke signals and sussed out that there was fire underneath. On one opportune moment, he decided to broach the subject. "Enna mappille, kuzandai kooda romba sandai podureengannu ketten,"+ he said in Tamil, as his knowledge of agriculture far exceeded his knowledge of Kannada and would not try a 50:50 mixture of Kannada and Tamil, which we used to call "kanthamiz!" My friend was taken aback by this frontal attack. True to his family tradition-- he belonged to a warrior class--he went on the defensive! He also wanted to impress upon the Mamanaar his knowledge of Tamil, which he was polishing with repeated visits to Tamil cinemas with his friends. At that time, a Tamil film called Kadalikka Neramillai was very popular. He wanted to say there was no time for rows.(Kaadhadalikke) His reply will go down as a classic remark in Kanthamiz! It went like this: "Illaiye Mama. Rendu perum day duty, night duty pannumbodhu engalukku kaadalikkaY neramillai?" After he realised his mistake, there was laughter all round, and that defused the situation!
+ I hear, you two are having rows. *sandai= Tamil for ‘jagaLa’
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