Pause for a smile!

Pause for a smile!

The string of festivals has come and gone, there is a nip in the air in the early morning, the days are getting shorter, it is time to take a breather and smile at some things we notice around us before we lock ourselves indoors to avoid the cold.

 

Very clear instructions indeed, I must say. 

Top photo: Those who do not trust scans and doctors' scalpels cutting open their precious cranial box, can perhaps visit this shop. Isn't he claiming that he repairs all kinds of heads?

Photo: Hansel Aubert

I have yet to understand if these are two different pieces of advice. Is it that one should generally stay away from God who lives beyond this wall or simply that God is watching, so one should not park their vehicle there? Why? I do not see God's chariot parked there. One thing is clear that the bravehearts whose scooters are parked there, like an open challenge either way.

Is going to the loo otherwise a public event?

Was the applicant shipped from somewhere and actually arrive home through delivery agents of  Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal or Myntra etc.? After all, we sign and take responsibility for every proforma that we fill in which asks that only the truth be written. (Delivering a baby at home is still very much prevalent in parts of the country). 

Wise people can be found everywhere in the world. Not from India, but you tell me how does one apply for his/her own death certificate?

For a change, I picked out some surprising examples of translation.

I cannot read Kannada, so do not know what is written there but the English translation expects one to get rid of useless saliva silently! 

We have 22 official languages in India, and we can express ourselves perfectly well in whichever language we know, yet  sometimes if our native language has two meanings of the same word, the translation can be either hilarious or confusing.

One meaning of the word 'mess' is chaos/disorder. Naturally, the translator/painter wrote that in Hindi. Unfortunately, this is the other mess, a place where army/police officers meet and eat. I hope by now the error has been rectified. 

Everyone has used the expression 'out of course' at some time or the other in our student life for question/s we understand we have not covered in class. I found this old photo from 2019 of a menu card of Finnair business class. I am sorry I do not have the original in English which said 'main course'. Perhaps the Hindi translator, recalling bad memories of his student life, used mukhya pathyakram which means main syllabus.

The word rashi has two meanings in Hindi - star/sun signs or amount (of money). The bank  must be doing abysmally poor because they got a mere Rs 1,000 deposit  but the officials did not ask the Libran depositor to refill the form correctly.

It was the 'last call' for people boarding a flight to Delhi which translated into Hindi also means the last call, but from this planet. We mourn your departure, we shall never see you again pal!

This translation left me speechless. The Hindi song behne de, mujhe behne de means let me flow, the sub-title writer used the other meaning for behne (sisters) de (give). 

Keep smiling. I am planning to travel for a few days and shall meet you here in December. 

                                                                      -Anupama S Mani