' in U.P. or .bihar, kids surnames are decided as follows
agar 1 ka hua to EKNATH
do se hua to DUBEY
3 SE HUA TO TRIVEDI
4 se hua to CHATURVEDI
5 se hua to PANDEY
agar sab ka hua to MISHRA
and agar baap pata na ho to GUPTA..'
my reaction? 'oh ha ha..ERASE..because as it is my cell phone from maurya period is always choking from FULL MEMORY.
i walk back to class and meet her on the way up. she stops for me and i give her a smile and start walking with her when she asks me
"Message mila?"
"oh ya ..your new docomo right? (do doo do ..do dodododo..sorry couldn't resist..
)
)
"ya i hope you didn't feel offended.."
i gave her a quizzical look and wondered stupidly how does she know I'm from the CHATURVEDI clan..and said " about the CHATURVEDIS being mentioned? no no of course not..!"
"no i mean the joke as a whole.. i mean you know its about people from UP and BIHAR.. "
I paused.. smiled at her..a little too sweetly , fighting back the urge to slap her and said" but why should i feel bad about all that? I've been born and brought up in this city.. I belong to this state as much as you do.."
"ha ha wo to hai ..but..you see..you're still..from north in terms of culture..and er..language."
"No ..my hindi is as bad as yours..its not very fluent and i understand every word of marathi u speak because i have studied it my entire school life..and why would i feel offensive? would you if i sent you a joke making a mockery of maharashtrians? Obviously not! because YOU and I are well educated and citizens of a broad-minded Indian society..don't we make fun of sardars all the time! and we have one of them as our P.M...CHAL its already 1 'o clock."
and i took 2 stairs at a time and rose above. LITERALLY.
and BTW HAPPY NEW YEAR! STAY SAFE , STAY HEALTHY. :)
