Wordily Yours

       This morning an old friend of mine, a Gujrati ( no, not a title by its own, a person from the State of Gujrat..simple😊) who I was working with, some 25 years ago in Mumbai, erstwhile Bombay, called me just to check which were the suitable places and their connectivity status for him to visit in Uttarakhand as he is to come here from abroad during Deepawali in November. We talked about various topics from utter crap to serious political crisis as if we were the sole helmsman and decision maker on the issues. Incidentally, and not surprisingly, we did talk about many tourist destinations, too, for about a couple of minutes. But, as it normally happens, finally he said ok, man! I will google it and then, if I come, I shall make sure that you are informed well in time about my plans.

   During the telecon, he used the slang ‘drip’ which as per my knowledge of everyday conversation of about 20 years back meant one of  the boring kind or of unattractive taste…. with that interpretation, we continued for a while.  But, within a couple of minutes only, it occurred to me that something was wrong with my understanding. Somehow, it didn’t go on long as we had to cover lot many topics and so the litmus test for my eligibility of being a moron was not required. Later, when I checked the meaning of that slang, I found it to be rather a compliment to be used for one’s look or style, just opposite to its meaning some 20 years ago. Boy o Boy!!!

  Later, when I thought about it, I wondered  if pure literary persons ( with not much interaction with people other than those of their wisdom and conscience either personally or by their profession) get to know about the slangs or the “dirty-words”, if I may say so.😊 Even more amused to think about the abuses they might want to be using if the situation thus arises for them to use these.😊

    This is no way to undermine the intelligence of the revered lot and just a lighter way to demonstrate the level of literary word proficiency used, though the conversation I am referring to is in fact real.

     On a serious note, it is your dexterity to know the meaning of “these and those” words you write but even more important adroitness than that is to actually understand them perfectly, appropriately and most importantly humanly…..And this has been my sincerest endeavor in life to get to understand them fully…. maybe successfully or otherwise.

     Good afternoon and see you next time.