Just a Few Words of Tamizh

I was travelling from Ranchi to Bangalore by train. The train reached Madras a little late and I had to catch the train to Bangalore. There was very little time and there were no boards to lead me to the platform from which the train to Bangalore started.

I found a railway official sitting at a desk and answering queries from other travellers. I went there too and tried my luck. “Excuse me”… “Excuse me”…. No response. I tried a few more times. No luck. Then I realised that this would not work. I raised my voice a bit and said, “inge paarongo saar”. The reaction was immediate. I had caught the attention of the man. I asked my question, got the answer and was on the train straight away.

The trick was to talk to the man in his language and this was about all the Tamizh I knew!

Phew……