Clueless in Caledonia!

It is been a long while since I ve written something in this blog of mine. A lot has changed in my life since the last blog. Then I was in my motherland and now I am in another part of the world. I am in the midst of a dfferent culture, a different society and defenitely a different way of thinking. But I enjoy it. It seems to me as a great challenge.

I arrived here in Glasgow , friendless, with the objective of getting a masters degree. What can I expect? Its a new world. I can speak their language and also understand them, but I dont have anything else in common. But when I get to the flat arranged to stay, what do I find??? Three other mallus.... and on top of that a Bengali girl whom I ve trained at IMS for GRE as flatmates! What more culd I ask for. I was in a situation when I could have the cake and eat it too, with the icing and all.

And now about Malayalees... they are everywhere. Legends say that when Niel Armstrong landed on the moon, there was a nair's tea shop there selling chaya and parippuvada! So we are leading this existence which has not changed much from the one we were leading back in India. We blabber away in Mal except for the enlightened occassions we feel the necessity to speak in the local language( Its English here!)

And now taking you( the reader...waiting for you to read my blog) to the streets. I suppose you would think that scotland is a remote and mysterious place where indians have not infiltrated much. You are mistaken my friend. you cant walk on the road without banging on to one. The brown skin is absolutely ubiquitous. And beware! you would find some sharing the same colour as yourself and think of exchanging niceities. But when they open their mouth, what comes out is Glaswegian in its purest form.

About the language ... Glaswegians have a very different accent. First I couldnt understand anything. You couldnt even lip sync because their lips barely move. You could only hear some sounds coming out of their mouth. But you could try to understand what they say from the context. But now I am picking up. Classes are fantastic and the people are friendly. You can get a smile and a hello from anybody on the street. So thats about my initial experiences about Glasgow. I have lots to update but now i should go to the kitchen and think of preparing something. Its been a lifetime since I ve had Idli and sambar. But it costs around 10 pounds for Idli sambar, almost 830 bucks. my mouth is watering...