jumping to a conclusion

This happened on a busy morning last week in our kitchen. Worried about running out of time, Pushp was tenser than usual. To pacify her, I asked her to calm down. I said "cool as a..."

Pat came the response "Ninda cool ass!" Ninda means yours.

Me: 😅 You didn't even let me complete... "cool as a cucumber."

Pushp: 😀 hee he hee

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takeover vs overtake

Saturday Pushpa had taken the day off from work and she had planned a few tasks for the morning. She offered two options for me to overtake.

What did you say?

What task will you overtake- dusting or preparing breakfast?

I didn't pick any, instead fixed her mistake followed by a bit of leg-pulling.

For the past few days, while helping with morning chores I'd taught her a few English words/phrases and relevant context of using them. The following day both of us had forgotten what words we spoke of. So we came up with an idea of writing them on the mirror, like a whiteboard. That way it's easier to memorize them.

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Demquest

Noodles is one of my favorite foods. I prefer Hakka noodles over instant noodles. Preparing instant noodles is simple whereas Hakka noodles procedure has more steps hence many do not try it. I'm one of them, so I depend on my better-half. However my better-half doesn't like Hakka noodles, so whenever I feel like having it I demquest it. Demquest is a word coined out of necessity. Demquest means a demand in the form of a request.

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quarter kg

One morning at supermarket. I was selecting vegetables after a careful look at prices. Bottle gourd is usually priced at ₹20 per piece at Dharwad vegetable market however here most rates written on the labels are per 250 grams and a few are per kg. Bottle gourd rate written on the label was ₹18 but the quantity wasn't clearly visible to me. So I asked a lady staff member if the rate was per kg or per quarter kg. The lady response was a big smile and a hearty laugh. I asked what happened... was she laughing at my question or something else. She said "yenri sir quarter antidiri," still laughing. For a second I was blank, then it flashed....

"Ayyo Shivane, yellig hodri madam nivu, quarter andre 250 grams." 

The lady still laughing said "quarter antar yenri sir, paav kilo anbekri." 

That left me stunned for a second.

"Aatri madam, labelnag bardirod paav kilo rate yenri?"

"Han sir."

This is a mindset caused by cultural dilution... the original meaning of the word is buried, out of sight. I'm sure there are thousands of people here to whom quarter is either a taboo word or liquor. Similarly there are be other words which could be interpreted differently in different minds. It is better to confirm if our thoughts are same, in a subtle manner.

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kaalu mukkaalu

March 22, 2022

Around 5-45 AM I was cycling up towards Gandhinagar cross roads. From the corner of my eye I saw a white dog pass through a gap in a fence. A morning walker ahead of me gave a long look at the dog. Out of curiosity I checked out the dog. It was a three-legged dog, its right hind leg was missing. The dog was out of sight but it remained in my thoughts... a three legged dog... mooru kaalina naayi... ಮೂರು ಕಾಲಿನ ನಾಯಿ. In Kannada two words can be merged to form one word. In this case ಮೂರು ಕಾಲು becomes ಮುಕ್ಕಾಲು - mukkaalu. Now lets take a look at the word kaalu... ಕಾಲು. It has two meanings- 1. leg and 2. one quarter.  Ondu kaalu was simplified to kaalu.

All these years I've been using these two words but never knew their origin. Possibly these words came into being in the trading circles when cattle was considered as currency.

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