Learning Kannada

I am in Bangalore for the last few months, can I say on temporary visa? While I am moving around the city and trying to locate places, I am extremely handicapped by the names of streets, circles written in Kannada. If I was from any of the other two states, then the script would be somewhat familiar. But being from Chennai, Tamil script is as far removed from kannada script as I can imagine.

So I have set about learning the language to familiarise myself with reading, writing and speaking.

I was on the lookout for a teacher. Yes, before that I did pick up a book "learn kannada in 30 days" but I wanted the fun of learning a language through a proper teacher. A casual remark by a friend in the apartment complex helped me hone in on one. She said her neighbour teaches kannada to small kids and would love to learn from her. I approached this teacher and she did not immediately say yes.She changed the topic while I tried to keep pace with her on our evening walks, a la Gandhi style! I left it there for a few days and again brought it up.She did not answer but talked about one star pupil of hers who was a Mata Amrutanandamayi devotee.

Of course that left me here nor there. But she did complement me on my interest.She said people who stay in Bangalore for any number of years not only do not learn the language, they make it a point not to. That is too bad I said.

So this went on for a while more.We had a gettogether in the complex and while waiting for our vehicle one evening, she told me that she is ready to take me as a student and to call her next week to fix up the schedule. Next three weeks went past, as I was away in Chennai. Then I came back and got back to her.She said would 3.30 pm be convenient to me. I said anytime, anywhere, I will be there.So we fixed on last wednesday. I was there on dot a few minutes before 3.30 with a school notebook and pen.

I thought the other students that she coaches will start arriving at 4 pm and I will have some exclusive adult literacy class. But I was ushered into a room which was already teaming with kids in primary classes. Do I mind if I sit on the floor, she asked me. I said no,no perfectly fine.

And thus started our Kannada classes.

She was giving tuitions to the children of all classes and all subjects all at one ago. She is an expert no doubt about that.The children were very amused having an aunty sitting with them and learning alphabets. The girl next to me was learning Hindi and making sentences, but would constantly keep peering over my notebook to see if I make any mistakes! There was a small boy and the most talkative of the lot, look straight at me trying to size me up and would break into a winsome smile when I looked up from my writing. They had hundred doubts about their work and a question a minute was what was the going rate. There were two boys who were brothers and for some reason they were sharing the same book.Invariably one would finish faster than the other and has to tell the teacher how the other one is holding up his work and he is wasting his time.The teacher asked them to be quiet as her small grandchildren were sleeping in the other room and should not be disturbed. One of them said "SHHh' and slowly the others picked it up and the decibel level of "shhhhhh' was louder than the noise they were making earlier.

Coming back to my alphabets,learning alphabets is the toughest part. Learnt Hindi alphabets when I was 10 years old and English and Tamil were much earlier, in my cradle, sort of, bycomparison.So I requested her that we proceed by simple words after being exposed to the alphabets and copying them 40 times in classwork and repeating the same as homework. So I am in A for apple stage,only it is A for Arasa, Agada and Anda. It is exciting. I am planning to carry the alphabets book with me when I am going out. I want to read the name boards and street names by referring to that book.And that will be the route to familiarising me with the alphabets.

This is the toughest part; the language as such would be child's play. I have made my maid converse with me only in Kannada. Till now she would talk to me in Tamil,as she is quite familiar with both the languages.

I have started travelling on the road; two classes on two consecutive days over.