The assumption that is made when I approach another Indian in India is that I speak the native tongue. As perplexing as it sounds, I do not. There was a slight embellishment added to today’s comic (for effect), but the crux of what happened is intact.
I had a wonderful time at Megacon (my full report has already been recorded) It was a pleasure to meet new and old readers alike. While PC Weenies received much of the spotlight at the show, I hope that new readers like what they see here.
-Krishna
Your comic reminds me of a story of a couple of local radio guys were planning on taking their radio show on the road with a trip to Tokyo, Japan. They were interviewing George Takei and one of the radio guys said, “Hey! Were coming to your home town!”. George replied, “oh, Glendale California?”
It’s good to know that the “speak louder and slower” isn’t just an American thing.
Louder doesn’t always = clarity … this looks like it was an excellent opportunity for a quick shower on the go, however!
I know what you mean. I have English ancestry, but I only speak American.
“Ma Hindi nehi bolta.” Unless it’s someone leaning into my rickshaw to try and sell me an English newspaper, then it’s, “no habla Hindi” (actually, that just slipped out the first morning I lived in my own apartment in India and some guy came to the door jabbering away, who I later found out was there to pick up the garbage (before I came all my Indian friends at the office told me there was no need to learn Hindi because “everyone educated speaks English” but no one thought about the various uneducated people who come by to do their jobs)).
Or enough of the same jerk calling my cell phone over and over and when I say “wrong number” they keep demanding to know who I am, then it’s “mere nam Gozer the Destroyer hai!” (well, it gets a laugh out of my wife, who does speak Hindi…)