I was always fascinated by the way a brand name is so popular that it then becomes the verb itself. The classic example would be XEROX. Thats a brand name. But in India nobody I mean no-body uses the correct verb photocopy. People say "Have you XEROXED it?" and mean photocopied.
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of a couple of interactions with a new bloglog acquaintance of mine ,
Zubli Zainordin from Malaysia who is compiling material for a Book Project. He also wants to learn
Telugu, my mother tongue.
In our emails that we exchanged, he used the sentence "You Telugu Me", which has now definitely caught my fancy. The phrase is to be read as , translate the sentence in Telugu and write back to me.
So Zubli, here are your first few Telugu phrases.
Bavundadam - To be good (Adjective.)
Pronounciation: baa+wun+da+dum
Meeru Bavunaara? [How are you? Literally - Meeru ( You - Both Plural or respect marker) Bavunaara(Good+Question+plural - are you good?)]
Pronounciation: mee+roo  baa+wun+aa+ra
Mee Blogu Bavundandi. [Your Blog is Nice. Literally - Mee (Your) Blog (English term Blog) Bavundandi (Good +present tense+respect marker.)]
Pronounciation: mee blog+u baa+wun+than+dee
Cinema Bavundi. [The Cinema is good. Literally - ...
Childhood consisted of celebrating Sankranti with much awaited pomp and fervour. It all began with washing the house with water, and wiping the floors with a rag, the night before "bhogie" (2 days before Sankranti). It would then be followed by drawing of muggus with ground rice paste at every threshold and room corners. We children were scolded and asked not to step on any of the house "muggus" till it was dry.