Rant!....

Warning: This is a rant post – waited a long time to put this one out!

I am a Maharashtrian gal – and proud of it, brought up in Hyderabad – again proud of it.

I consider myself to be a Hyderabadi as I lived there my whole life before I came to Chicago. I speak fluent Marathi – ok not as great as any Puneri would speak – but I do speak Marathi at home with everybody. I am tired of answering a favorite question from people – Oh you are from Hyd? Do you speak Telegu at home then? (this question is invariably from a marathi speaking person; also notice the tel-e-gu – a maharashtrian can never pronounce it as telugu) In my head I start screaming No! NO! NO! – I speak in Marathi not Telugu – but in reality I politely reply saying that we converse in Marathi at home.

I have been brought up in a land where there were very few marathi families around and I did not have any marathi friends. So in school, I invariably spoke in English. Also, apart from home, I never spoke in Marathi to anybody else as there was no chance to do so. So anybody who was new or a stranger or not family the immediate impulse was to speak in Hindi or English. And this frame of mind has stuck with me. Even as of today I cannot speak in Marathi to a person whom I am meeting for the first time even though I know that person to be a Maharashtrian. I cannot speak in Marathi to people who I am not comfortable with. There are very few people outside of my family with who I converse in Marathi – and I want to tell the world – its not because I have an attitude problem – its not because I am a SNOB – its circumstantial. It’s because of the place I grew up in – it's not because I don’t like speaking in Marathi – I love the language. I have to be comfortable with a person to hit it off in Marathi. I know it does'nt sound too logical, and I agree I am a bit weird, but it takes all kinds to make this world, no?

So next time if a Marathi speaking person finds me replying back in English its because I don’t consider you dear enough or close enough to start speaking in Marathi with. It's not that I am not comfortable speaking Marathi - I am not comfortable speaking it with you!! So stop judging me!

There, I said it and now I am at peace with the world!! :)

-Moi

Mood of the Day: Peaceful
Song of the Day: Padosan teri murgi ko rakhna sambhal – (don’t even ask me which movie!)