How my Chennai is changing..

Last week I was at a chat and sandwich shop waiting to get some sandwiches for my husband in the evening. I had a thought provoking experience as I waited. Few minutes later, a woman, her daughter (in her thirties) and grandson (should have been about 5 years old) walked closer to the shop. The woman hurriedly asked 'bhaiyya, ek set pani puri dhe dho'. What surprised me was that looking at her, one wouldn't have imagined that she can speak Hindi. She looked simple and like someone from a low-income family. Further observations into their conversations with the chat shop boy showed that they did not understand English but could speak Hindi fluently. This family left the place after getting their pani puri parcelled.

The next customer walked in. A typical Tamil father in his forties and his college-going daughter. "Bhaiyya, ek set pani puri dhe dho..kithna ka hai?". Chat boy: "6 piece 20 rupees Sir". Father: "Aur kachori?". Chat boy: "Fifteen rupees". I was surprised a little more now.

Next walked in a middle-aged man in a white half-slack shirt and white dhothi. One could easily mistake him for a member of some political party.
He started off "bhaai, che (6) samosa aur ek sundal dhe dho na".
Chat shop boy to his co-worker: "abbey, sundal kya hai re?".
Co-worker(amused): Sundal matlab channa!
Chat shop boy: Samosa ten rupees, channa masala 20 rupees  saab.

I was standing there completely surprised at seeing every other Chennaite walking in and conversing in Hindi. It proved how we all adapt to the best of our abilities when situation demands. It could be broken Hindi, but yet everyone was making that effort to not confuse the chat shop boy and talk to him in his language. My respect for my fellow Chennaites went up after this experience. 

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