Laat or Laathi?

Disclaimer: I am sorry if you don’t understand Hindi (Woah! The sheer thought of such a fellow human being makes me squirm. Sarcasm alert!) but this, unfortunately, will not make sense if translated.

I read this and laughed. I think it’s about time I shared my worst ever Hindi experience. So here goes.

The year: 2007.
The time: About 6.00 pm.
The place: Outside Gurunath.
The people: Coke, Van and me.

It was one of those particularly exciting days when we would go all the way to Gurunath just to have that cup of tea. We had the tea, relished it and walked back to the hostel. Just then, a dog decided that it was jobless enough to walk along with us. We decided our moves just in case it decided to attack us. Coke exclaims, “Ek laat maarenge!” Yours truly couldn’t just listen and keep quiet about it but on the contrary, decided to respond to that. Quite fair, you might say. But, the point is that I spoke in Hindi. I don’t know why. I don’t know how. I don’t know what made me do it. This is what I said, “Hum laat kaise maarenge? Hamare paas toh laat nahi hai na.” Laughs followed. Naturally.

Oh, by the way, I speak decent Hindi now and it feels good to be able to do so.

PS: In my defense, laat and laathi can be a bit confusing sometimes.
PS2: I have had 10 grueling years of Hindi as a second language at school. Thank you.

12 comments:

  1. lol, seriously! We had the best dose of laugh that night :D and still cant resist...

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  2. and I used to think you're better at Hindi than most other southies!
    An old Hindi proverb revised:
    "Saa(n)p bhi mar gaya aur laat bhi nahi tooti" :P

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  3. lol...so typical of u...go leee ;)

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  4. Join the Hindi classes to be conducted by Hindi mitra Mandal....:)

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  5. @Coke
    Yeah, you did. I just laughed bitterly to console myself that day. :P

    @Abhishek
    Amn't I? Amn't I?
    You like to make me feel bad, don't you? Sob sob!

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  6. @strawberrymargaritas
    Regrets putting up the post. Typical of me?! Oh no! This was an isolated incident! An exception, I tell you!

    @Abhinav
    After 10 grueling years of Hindi?! Not happening! Not happening at all!

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  7. Nothing beats hearing hindi from such people!

    (Lots of laughter!)

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  8. @Aniket
    I hope you could read it correctly; what with you breaking your specs and all. :P
    Zip it! The challenge of you speaking in Tam/Mallu is still on by the way. :P

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  9. you speak decent hindi now... but when do you choose to speak in the tongue of the north?

    will someone issue a language challenge to me too?? :)

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  10. @Whitelighter
    Well, I switch between English and Hindi with considerable ease now. So no particular time or place or person etc.
    Why do you want a language challenge?

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  11. @Leela
    You are! You are!
    I just cannot help falling to the temptation.

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  12. sounded just like me....i always end up getin the genders wrong! i was always silent in hindi clases :( a shame was in cbse...

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