The wonders of language

Scene 1:

Atul and I had been to Salzburg, Austria the last time I had come here. It is a beautiful city, clean and picturesque. We had taken a tour for the week end from a tourist agency. Everything was planned and executed very well. The cab came to pick us up from our location and there were 3 other pairs of people in our little van. 2 from Australia, 2 from UK, 2 from the USA and we were from India. The language which connected us was obviously English. I wondered, if there was no English, today we wouldn't have been able to interact with each other in the tour and it would have been so boring to sit like that seeing each others faces!

Scene 2:

There is a group of people in Karnataka, who share the same surnames as us, e.g. Velankar, Devdhar, Joshi etc., but speak the Chitpavani language. They are here since 4 generations and do not understand a word of Marathi, which is my mother-tongue. I came to know about the existence of such group when I came to Bangalore.We had been to a wedding in that group and again English came to our rescue. Their group and we were interacting in English! lol! Imagine again, if there was no English language, we, the people of same community (but separated due to location and language) wouldn't have been able to talk to each other. They do not speak Marathi and we do not speak Chitpavani.

Scene 3:

Last time, when I had come to Germany, we were staying in the guest house and there a lady called Maria served breakfast regularly. She was very strict and did not like people touching the bread etc. by bare hands. She often scolded people for being careless and dirty. I was initially scared of her, but once she got to know that I speak fluent German, she was totally a different person with me. She helped me find a good shop for buying chocolates at cheaper rates and she even gifted me when I came back to India. Once she got to know about my pregnancy, she sent nice gifts for the baby! Again, language came to our rescue here, where we both bonded over it.

Scene 4:

Here, in Germany, a Croatian woman comes for cleaning my apartment, twice a month. She speaks German, but with a very heavy accent. I understand German, which a commoner speaks. So the communication medium between her and me is her heavy accented German and then my understanding of her German and replying to her. Had I not known German, there would have been a big gap in our communication and we wouldn't have understood each other at all. She is a nice woman and she calls my little boy "Puppe" (doll). My boy is also happy to see Tante (aunt). She must be in her late 60s, but she calls herself aunt. She is very talkative and she does her work well. She calls me "Schatz" (dear), just because I offered her food when I was having lunch and she was immensely overwhelmed by it.

I was wondering, how and where this common language takes 2 people and how it binds them together for time to come. It helps them understand each other, to share their problems, joys, happiness with each other. It helps them to make better people and help each other in times of adversity. How I wish that different languages bind us all in a language of love and peace and makes this place a little better to exist instead of making it an issue and fighting over the language problem.

One month in Germany

This time it was different.

I had come thrice earlier to Germany, but in different roles. I had come here twice as a student and once after marriage, but before Tanay arrived. This time, I was a full time mother looking after my 5 months old son. And this was altogether a different experience.

Managing him alone without any help from the family members, friends was a great learning for me. Of course, Atul was biggest help. In the initial days, he cooked for us, made us feel at home by doing most of the things, he also went shopping for us. Once, I got into routine, I took over the cooking part and a little shopping part too. Due to which, I could take Tanay out for a ride and get him some fresh air. He immensely enjoyed those rides and smiled at everyone he saw. The Germans here were little surprised by his babbles, because usually German kids are given soothers all the time and I have hardly seen them cry or whine or talk in public. But this fellow enjoyed every little attention he got from the Germans. Especially the older generation, the grandmoms and grandpas came to talk to him and to see him. He smiled back to them and talked to them in his own sweet language.

Back at home, it was just Tanay and me from the time Atul went to office and came back in the evening. I am sure, Tanay must have felt bored seeing one face all the time. I tried in every possible way to enterian him, talk to him, play with him, sing him to sleep. There were other Indian families in the building, but they had their own routines and we hardly saw each other. I waited eagerly for Atul to come back every single evenning so that there was a third person at home and there was some interaction and noise in the house. I felt the pinch of absence of my near and dear ones greatly. In Bangalore, there were so many people around and also in the house and here suddenly there was just me, Tanay and Atul. But it completed our family, which was the biggest plus point of me coming here with Tanay. I even asked Atul, how on the earth he managed to stay alone all these months in this place. He said, he often thought of us and he talked to Tanay in his absence and told him all the things that happened during the day. I found it so heartening!

There is certain tinge of loneliness here unless you go out and work or have a really nice interacting group with whom you can talk and meet on daily basis. For a people person like me, this one month was of extreme patience and perseverance. I bonded with my son and my hubby, we were finally together after a very long time, which was the only and the biggest thing which helped me survive here.

Once my work starts, perhaps, I would be able to find other plus points of living here too! But as long as my son and my husband are with me, everything else should be secondary!

Amen!