The North-South Divide

Language is a big barrier in a country like India, where almost each state has its own language and many languages have multiple dialects. Funny things happen while communicating in different regions; grammar goes for a toss and the meanings of things sometimes change drastically. For instance we were told in our Kannada class that the word for 'coconut' commonly used in Bangalore meant 'itch' in certain northern parts of the state.

Changes are also incorporated while writing local words into English as the English script is not phonetic. In general, an extra 'h' is often added to hard consonants in the south and 'a' s are sometimes deleted from the less Sanskritized versions of the north. So, my first name in the south is always 'Sujatha' and my last name in the north is generally 'Vardarajan' or even 'Vardrajan'.

So what happens when a south Indian journalist tries his hand at Punjabi-English? Today's newspaper showed one such hilarious outcome. The writer was reporting a Bhangra (Punjabi folk dance) bash at Barack Obama's residence. The article began apparently innocuously with-

'There is a deep bond between United States President Barack Obama and India's own Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and it has nothing to do with civilian nuclear cooperation. It can be summed up in two words - bhalle, bhalle!'

and it ended with the optimistic hope that -

'The next step for Mr. Obama, if Michelle approves, may be Makhi ki roti and Sarson ka saag.'

I suppose the reporter meant to say that Barack Obama shares a love of Punjabi folk music with our Punjabi prime minister (Balle Balle is a common refrain in Bhangra songs) and perhaps Obama will move on to tasting some Punjabi food as well if the domestic situation permits (Makki ki roti is a flat corn bread, sarson ka saag is mustard greens- a popular Punjabi winter dish). However, because of the additional 'h' s in the Punjabi words, the article read-

'There is a deep bond between United States President Barack Obama and India's own Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and it has nothing to do with civilian nuclear cooperation. It can be summed up in two words - dumplings! dumplings!...
...The next step for Mr. Obama, if Michelle approves, may be housefly-bread and mustard greens.'

So much for national (and international) cooperation!