Lingua Oriya

I went to the Stations of the Cross in Puri today. It was all in Oriya, and they had 14 Stations instead of the 13 I am used to. They tacked on the Resurrection as the final station. I always thought that Churches that do that are a jumping 2 days ahead of themselves, but who am I to judge?

One thing I love to do here in India is to realize that the Indian mastery of the English language is just slightly off. They speak a different kind of English that we do, or for that matter anyone else does. The British cannot be blamed for all of the differences. Shops, advertisements, and even their English grammar books have a tendency to make minor errors in how they word things, or what words they choose to use. For instance:

1)In Delhi right by Shashi’s house there is a tailor shop called “Decent Tailor.” I don’t know about you but that name is telling me that this tailor is neither good, nor bad. He is merely mediocre.
2)I passed by a hotel on the beach today called “Krusty Hotel.” It took me seven tries to explain to Biku why I found this funny.
3)I was shown a 4th grade grammar workbook where a story was titled “The Little Pussy and the Monster Cock.” It was, of course, a story of an oppressive rooster and a small kitten.
4)I saw an underwear advertisement that showed a man in briefs. The man was pointing to his underwear, and the caption simply stated “All you need.”

This reminds me of a funny story that a friend of mine told me. See, here in Orissa they have a problem pronouncing the letter “V.” They make it sound like our letter “P.” A woman who works with our program here eventually got used to the difference. The reason this story is funny? Her name is Venice.