Thursday, April 17, 2008

Indications of my Tamil-ness

The beat of ‘Veyilodu Vilayadi’ makes me nostalgic for paddy fields and blinding sunshine for some reason despite the fact that I am as rural the Gemini flyover. However, the chorus of ‘Mustafa Mustafa’ can make me more misty-eyed.
I watched ‘Sivaji’ more than once.
When I want to be affectionate without being mushy, I call someone ‘da’.
I always change to Sun Music after VH1 and Zoom.
Vada sambhar, sambhar-rice, bisi bela bath. Call me.
I grew up on a staple diet of Prabhu Deva’s baggy pants, funky dance moves and with swells of pride while listening to each newest A.R.Rahman creation, each marking a new season in my life.
Marina beach may be the dirtiest, most crowded, most overrated place in the city but it’s still our beach.
I wanna dance like Vijay!!
Pongal brings so much hope even though I don’t own a cow and dread the increase in sunshine from that time of the year. And salty Pongal..is..so..yum.
‘Dai’ can be used in so many contexts ranging from blind fury to playful greeting. Why, it’s even in my phone’s messaging dictionary (though probably as the starting of the word ‘dairy’. Hmmm. Never mind)
The Tamil slang is so open to other languages. Conversation is easy for anyone. (“Ippo straight, ippo right, ippo left!)
I love shouting out when spotting familiar places in Kollywood movies. ("Spencers!!!")
Tamil comedy is something else altogether…

I complain on and on and on and on about the heat but I don’t go anywhere.
My best friend knows your aunt’s sister’s son/daughter.
Only in Chennai can you go to a Café Coffee Day and wind up meeting 2/3rd of your graduating class from school.
Lungis seem so comfy…Dhaavanis look so pretty… :) even though you hardly see them anymore.
Sure, it’s sleepy but after all that sun, that’s all you really want to do.

I love my Madras. :D

8 comments:

ess said...

Don't do this to me! I've been away from Madras for four friggin' months, and I thought I'd held myself together quite nicely. Now you go write this post and make me all nostalgic. Sniff.

When I get back, we're gonna party. Madras style (and I DON'T mean YogiB songs in the background)

Prez said...

Ayo!!! So sorry!! :( :S
Yes, ess, we are going to party!!! But why no YogiB songs?!! ("Tamil Nadu, get down tonight!!")

Anonymous said...

this is making me feel jealous... and def making my mouth water when i saw foooooodddd listed in your post :)

btw, sambhar-rice, bisi bela bath - i thought they were one and the same, arent they?

Firefoxcub said...

I used to live in madras and went to high school there and man, did I hate it. But I do love prabhudeva and tamil rock. There used to be this channel call Southern Spice (SS). Is it still on?

@V, Any self respecting Kanadiga will tell you bisi bele bath and sambar is not the same, da. :)

Anonymous said...

@firefoxcub

well, i am not a kannadiga... so obv don't know the diff, and so the question..

would appreciate if you could enlighten me on the diff :)

Prez said...

Firefoxcub, :)nice blog
SS Music is still on. And Tamil rock? Could you specify?
And V, I thought Sambhar-sadam and bisi bela were the same..now quite confused!! :)

Anonymous said...

@estarra

would like to hear if it is the same or not by some self respecting Kanadiga ;)

Prez said...

"Bisi bele bath is a spicy preparation of rice, a speciality of Karnataka." says Wikipedia.