Who am I ???.. Any guesses.....

Actually, I can speak three languages – Tamil, Kannada and English (Yes, I count this as a separate language that I know!). I can understand three languages - Telugu,Malayalam,Hindi and these three languages I can manage with broken words.....And the great joke is Telugu is my mother tongue..My grandma and dad generation used to speak in Telugu only..Our current generation is not much comfortable with Telugu..So we started speaking Tamil only....

We are then left with two more – Tamil and Kannada.. Both are dominant languages of South India. As long I was in Tamilnadu,there was no problem. I was a Tamilian outside my house and Telugu inside. But when I came to Bangalore, I had to answer one tough question – ‘Are you Tamil?’ It would have been easier to answer this – ‘Are you from Tamilnadu?' But no, you are asked the other question always. Sometimes, I have blinked for as long as 20 seconds to answer that question.

Forget others; my real problem comes when my heart asks my mind – ‘Are you Telugu or Tamil?’

Though my mother tongue is Telugu and I never speak Telugu at home, I was born and brought up in Tamil Nadu. My second language in school was Tamil and it was one of my favorite subjects. Outside my house, I always used to speak in Tamil.

Many of my classmates were Telugu by birth, but no one bothered to enquire. In fact, one of my bench mates for a long time in college was Telugu and had studied Telugu as a second language – in Trichy.. But we always spoke to each other in Tamil.

Tamil is a very rich and an absorbing language. Living in Tamilnadu for three generations means you are almost Tamil. No..no..100%

When I came to Bangalore, my PG (Paying Guest accommodation) house owner introduced me to my room mates and said that they were also Tamil. I insisted that I was Telugu. He then spoke to me in Telugu for five minutes. I can't understand great ...So I started replying in Tamil ..

The icing in the cake came when I over heard a couple of Telugu girls speaking about me – “Some new Tamil girl has joined in our PG it seems….”..and again Tamil girls do the same too.....Finally I learnt Kannada ..I can speak the typical kannadiga slang... Here comes the another issue...

When we recently shifted to Mumbai from Bangalore ..All are thought I am from karnataka..And the mother tongue is Kannada....My neighbour speaks Kannada with me...Now also she introduces me like Kannadiga only..My son was born in Bangalore ..We will shift to Bangalore within One or Two years as we have own flat over there....May be we will settle down there...Now my son will turn Kannadiga from Tamilian...It looks like the same way how I changed from Telugu to Tamilian...Ha..Ha..Ha.....

PS:The story vamsa virucham which I read in solvanam website induced me to write this post..The author of that story is Mr.siddhantha Boobathy.. I am very proud to say I am one of his student...