Konkani Kismet
As I was walking out of the Dean's Office around noon today who should I see but my cousin Shivram and his wife Sujatha. It was a total fluke--they had no idea I worked at Stanford (I guess my mom never told them) and I had no idea they would be visiting that day (or that their son was attending summer camp on campus this week). It was a shock and the bestest surprise. I haven't seen them in 8+ years! They are planning on attending the wedding, but it was really fun to end up snapping shots of them in front of the Memorial Church and then go to Burmese cuisine in downtown PA for lunch. They were so nice and the pleasantest part was hearing Konkani spoken.
Konkani (or sometimes spelt Konkanee) is the native tongue of my family (English is my native tongue, although I was taught both languages at the same time as a child). I don't speak it anymore and I'm not sure I can. When I tried at age 12 during a visit to India, my cousins all made fun of my accent saying I sounded like a christamanchi (literal translation is "like a Christian person"). It was like music--the sound of chattering family. My parents rarely speak it to me now and I only hear it when there are enough Konkinas around to make it worth their while. Shivram and Sujatha happened to be sightseeing with two older, parent-age Konkinas on their first trip to the US--so speaking the native tongue or Amchighela (literally means 'our language' in Konkani) was a given.
I'm getting a good feeling about this wedding business and family invasions. What luck seeing them! Seriously, I never leave my office during the and according to Sujatha, Shivram had resisted walking down toward the Church as they were all so hot.
My parents land in SFO in about 3 hours.
Konkani (or sometimes spelt Konkanee) is the native tongue of my family (English is my native tongue, although I was taught both languages at the same time as a child). I don't speak it anymore and I'm not sure I can. When I tried at age 12 during a visit to India, my cousins all made fun of my accent saying I sounded like a christamanchi (literal translation is "like a Christian person"). It was like music--the sound of chattering family. My parents rarely speak it to me now and I only hear it when there are enough Konkinas around to make it worth their while. Shivram and Sujatha happened to be sightseeing with two older, parent-age Konkinas on their first trip to the US--so speaking the native tongue or Amchighela (literally means 'our language' in Konkani) was a given.
I'm getting a good feeling about this wedding business and family invasions. What luck seeing them! Seriously, I never leave my office during the and according to Sujatha, Shivram had resisted walking down toward the Church as they were all so hot.
My parents land in SFO in about 3 hours.