No access to the internets for a couple of weeks. Yes, in spite of what she thinks, it is possible. At least no access from home, and I don’t blog from work. Really.
So, what do I write about now?
The relative prosperity of Penang and the benefits of liberal economies and free trade zones?
The amazing feeling when you step out of work and see at least three Indian restaurants around you, all serving misspelt Indian dishes (Thusai, Roti) that are unbelievably close approximations of the stuff you get in India?
The beautiful English that people here speak — clipped vowels, (especially the O’s), a sing-song undulation that stresses unexpected syllables, and the La’s that adorn every sentence. Lyrical. The way they use can as a substitute for yes. “Can I park here?” “Can.” Cannot be any clearer.
Perhaps a profound post about the insularity of the cultures here, how they don’t seem to marry each other… Ooh, or a post about the hookers outside an Indian restaurant, wearing shirts that only hookers and Hrithik Roshan wear.
The popularity of Dan Brown… The local bookstore’s bestseller shelf had 3 Brown books, a GossipGirl book and this: “How To Write Effective Business And Other Letters As Well As (wait, I’m almost there) Prepare Essential Documents.”
Umm…, perhaps I should just respond to Navin and Sybil, and get on the book-meme-tag train… Yes, that’s what I will do. Tomorrow. Can.
5 Responses to “Hiatus”
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Karthik:
That was a long break (by your blogging standards). Glad to know you have settled down. I missed your posts. Looking forward to see your book-meme-tag post.
–mullai
Ah, yes, “can”. I have a Malaysian Chinese friend here in Melbourne, and am very amused when my requests and questions are met with a vigorous “Can, can, can.”
He is no stranger to Indian food (he likes what he calls “banana leaf rice”) and knows more Tamil swear words than I do.
On a different note, I also have acquaintances here who moved here from Penang, and they mourn the loss of the temples close by that so enamoured their visiting parents. All they get here are the brick-veneer houses and milk bars of suburbia.
welcome back to the blogosphere!
ah malaysia; all i remember is the one rainy afternoon vidhya and myself spent roaming around kuala lumpur when we returned after our wedding. the flight back to the u.s. was 8 hours away and we had time to kill. the petronas towers and some indian cab drivers are all i can remember … oh and i think we went to a zoo and i was bitten by a parrot which i was trying to feed …
how long are you there? must be HUMMMMMID!!!
Did u taste Indian Rojak and Prata? I guess they have some Tamil movie halls as well.…I remember seeing some movie there.
Here for a few months. What are Rojak and Prata? (Parotta?). We’re vegetarians and that takes away about 90% of eating places here.
There seem to be a lot of temples here — Little India is indistinguishable from certain areas of Chennai or Coimbatore. It is amazing how people that have never visited India in their lives can be so “Indian”. They listen only to Tamil songs, eat Tamil cuisine, speak a slighly different version of Tamil and are in some ways more Indian than many of us born and brought up there.
Not sure if it is good or bad though — some assimilation is always good.