Nimege Englishu Barutha? (Can You Speak English?)

It is so funny and ironical that how we have been forced to embrace the English language, thanks to the advancement in technology. Due to my role as a Consultant I need to travel often to meet my prospective and existing clients. Since I do not have the luxury of having a driver (for lack of not finding an appropriate one), though I do own a car, I have become a compulsive user of Uber and Ola.

Travel in Bengaluru, in today’s context cannot be measured by time. Your measurement tools are traffic jams, work being done by the various government departments, since they choose to dig/close roads at different times. A road can either be closed, diverted or sometimes even unapproachable.

How do I engage myself in this uncertain travel time? (I am sure many of you have ways to entertain yourself). I try and listen to music and play some games on my mobile phone. Then I start reading the licence information, checking names, expiry date and then of course see if the id photograph matches  he face of the driver. Once, I noticed that my auto driver was a young lad (perhaps around 18years of age) but the id showed the face of a 45-50-year-old man. When I questioned the young lad, he said that this is his uncle’s auto and he drives it occasionally to earn some pocket money. When I asked him if he has a licence he said no. I quietly asked him to stop the vehicle and told him that he needs to get a licence issued in his name.

Now that I need to go twice a week, it has become compulsive to travel by an Ola or Uber. So this is where the use of the English word comes. Conversations are sprinkled with “GPS work agodila Sar”. “Phone discharge agide”. “Mobile top madubeku”.

Then of course an amusing aspect is if you don’t know Kannada then just add leftu, rightu, straightu adding a u at the end of an English word (well almost all words) will become a Kannada word.

Other conversations include drop elli Sar? and pick up elli Sar? Fullu traffic jamu, short cut nalli hogthini. Ola money na ila casha?

I guess today education may not be a priority for many people, but learning some basic English words and giving it a twist with local flavour has become the norm of the day. If your need to earn a leaving become adaptable, flexible to help with your excellent customer-service skills.