Dec 27, 2010

Did you have a 'Place Lag' yet?

After a long time, a long post. The old funny tinge back. Or so I felt after I typed this out.
Anways, it is all about how they should coin the word or may be the term "place lag" just the same way they said "jet lag".
Why?
Is why even a question? *roll eyes!*

As soon as I landed back from Chennai for my holidays back to Kerala, God's own country, I felt this peculiar need to coin that term. Because the feeling was bugging and budding inside me.

The urge to speak English was the worst. Trust me, I had to fight my inkling to talk to my dad in English. Not that he would have trouble understanding or replying, but he would be sarcastic about how 'pseudo mallus' land back from somewhere they just lived for 6 months and start acting as if they never belonged!
And believe me, dad's sarcasm kills.

Then, everything around, had changed. Everything from the corner shops to the malls to the junctions! And an already directionally challenged [yours truly!] person found it all the more troubling to navigate.

The tendency to get ready for a fight as soon as you get into an auto?
Well, I actually asked [very rudely] an autowala how much it would be if I went to a particular place, to be answered back as rudely at, that, "We will have to wait and see how much the meter shows, wont we?" Well, chennai preserves some meters in its largest historical museums.. That is as far it goes.

Equally troubling was the big and comfy bed I got at home. I mean, I was used to sleep on a plank of wood! And not turning on my sides fearing I would fall. And then I get this? I, in fact, now have space to dirty on my bed and still have space to turn around and mess up all I like now. God it was unsettling at first!

Then, having a mom around? Wow! That is like a permanent couch available! And a bit dreamy.
Another problem was, net being on my PC now, the alignment of  letters on the keyboard. Well, my lappy has a different and close alignment. So, typing without looking turned out to be a total disaster. And painfully slow.

And net connected itself on my lappy, which the PC did only on prompt. And even after using the PC for like so many days, I still have to remind myself to connect net AFTER I try loading the pages 3 times!

Having food from home was another consequence. I call it that, cos we dont have KFC or Pizza Hut or Dominos here! Every time I yearned for KFC, I had to remind myself that I will have to travel to whole another district to get my hands on some of it.

And after a long time, when I saw "The Hindu", I kinda felt the dejavu of having read it once upon a time. And a yearning to read it again, which btw was impossible to concentrate on cos my mind feels sad it is not finance news anymore that dodged my mind! With NO finance terms! How bad is that?!!

And those things that I wear and go perfectly unnoticed in a metro, attracts glares from gals, whistles from baddies, gossips from guys and unsatisfactory murmur from grownups here. I got very conscious initially. Now, I dont give a damn. Well, I have not brought any of my 'decent' clothes home, so I dont have much of a choice! Do I?

And my dirty clothes disppear! All by themselves! It was a scare for me at first. Losing my clothes. But then, they kept reappearing washed and done. So I stopped bothering.

The feeling of movies and tv? And no Tamil? No offence to Tamil, but you so get used to hearing that language, you expect it to happen all the time for the first few days. And then you miss it. Yeah, I actually missed Tamil.

Initially I wondered if I belonged. I mean, it was difficult to fit in instantaneously. Then I slowly realized that I belong here. Have always. This scared me cos I didnt know what to call that brief period when I could not relate  'normalcy' to. And then I realized. I could use some HR tactics to deal with it.
'Blame it on something that cant bite back.' For instance, 'Place Lag'. :P
So, when was the last time you got one? :P 

6 comments:

elna said...

:) :) even i had dis "place lag" ..:D instead of english hindi..:D instead of hindu manaorama..nd lotss more..;)

Durga Nandan said...

That comforts me! Seriously!
I was kinda scared. :) That its just me.
Thanks a lot. :)
Cheerz!

Sithara Hamza Kizhakoot said...

oooh ! Totally agree with you on "place lag" !
Weeks after getting back from Australia I was seriously looking out for whites and women in jeans and shorts and the saris were so disturbing ! Not to mention the humid weather and a smell my room seemed to have even though I've lived in it for 10 years before but never noticed !

I still keep thinking people will talk to me in English irrespective of how they look and I cringe at the Indian accent or should I say 'mallu english' ?

And worst of all was the sense of security I had whenever I went out even if it was in te middle of the night cycling along through deserted streets seemed like a fun exercise there but seemed like a nightmare here !

I am STILL in "'place lag" :(

ME and me said...

one of those instances 'you wrote just wat I wanted to write' atleast wished would have.
took me to those 'place lag' filled days when I had shifted from Mumbai-Kerala and back to Mumbai.
ditto for some instance like eating hangouts, language speaking desires, newspapers.
keep sharing :)

Durga Nandan said...

@ sithu : Ah! Spoken like a true place lagged one!
eah, here I cant remain outside after 7, mom starts getting worried [ and not for nothng ] and am so used to trying to outlive the 'in time' of my hostel [9 pm that is..] that I had trouble understanding mom the first time.
For me, it was a mix of 'all englishes' mallu, tamilian, north indian, east indian, west indian... I mean, there are more englishes in India than the english could ever dream of! So, accent didnt baffle me. :D

Am happy to see I have more company. :)

Cheerz!
Durga

Durga Nandan said...

@ ME n me : thanks a lot :)
hope to write like before a lot now.. :)

Durga