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In our childhood, at home, we were asked to respect our male elders by addressing them properly...but not necessarily our elder ladies.
Father should never be called 'Nanna'...it was always 'Nanna Garu' and Granpa was never 'Thatha'...it was always 'Thata Garu' ...the Garu appendix being the equivalent of the Hindi Jee... as in 'pappajee' and 'dadajee' I heard much later.
Mother was always 'Amma'...never 'Amma Garu'...the latter meant ether a dhobi addressing my mom with folded hands making excuses for a torn sari, or me being sarcastic to a lady when I was angry with her for rebuking me.
The males on the father side, like paternal uncles, had this Garu suffix but not folks on the mother's side even when they were male.
Maternal Uncle was just 'Mama' while 'Mama Garu' was altogether a different person...he was uncle by marriage like the Father-in-Law...
This was an instance of the patriarchal system in which folks on the father's side demanded respect while those on the mother's side were closer and friendlier.
At school all our friends were called by their good names like:
"Hey Prabhakar, pass on your answer script!"
"Wait, Sudhakar, let Sir turn his back"
We were of course not allowed to speak to girls and so I didn't know a whit about the few that were in school.
All male teachers were Sirs and the couple of female teachers were:
"Ranemma and Annpaurnamma"
There goes the 'amma' syndrome again...even the lady CM who is out of jail on bail today is always 'Amma!' for her party workers.
Things changed when we graduated to our university at Vizagh, the port city now devastated by the cyclone-bird Hudhud. Teachers were of course still, Sirs, but all strangers like bank clerks in decent clothes behind counters were also Sirs, like:
"Sir, could you please change this torn note, sir!"
inviting the courteous reply:
"Get lost, sir!"
Friends however addressed each other as Gurus, like:
"Guru, how about a hand-loan of ten rupees till tomorrow, Guru?"
"Sorry Guru, I have yet to get the Money Order from home, Guru"
"No harm trying, Guru"
"None, Guru"
It was thinkable that we called our teachers Gurus...they would be offended. So too if we called our friends Sirs...they would be offended...since I am not on Facebook I don't know how Facebook friends address each other, if at all they do.
At Vizagh things suddenly changed for me one day when there was this news item that one Gurujee was visiting Vizagh and he would address the public in Railway Maidan and his speech in Hindi would be simultaneously translated sentence by sentence into Telugu. This instant translation excited me and I went there to watch it (it was free).
And there he was, standing on the podium in front of his creaking mike, like a typical Yogi giving his seated sermon on Chapter 15 of Gita (a favorite then for all spiritual discourses).
But when I heard it (in translation), not a word of Gita or Upanishads was there...it was a different address by an altogether different Gurujee hailing from Nagpur...
He spoke well and extempore...I however can't say how good our translator was since I knew no Hindi then (and little Hindi now).
...Posted by Ishani
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In our childhood, at home, we were asked to respect our male elders by addressing them properly...but not necessarily our elder ladies.
Father should never be called 'Nanna'...it was always 'Nanna Garu' and Granpa was never 'Thatha'...it was always 'Thata Garu' ...the Garu appendix being the equivalent of the Hindi Jee... as in 'pappajee' and 'dadajee' I heard much later.
Mother was always 'Amma'...never 'Amma Garu'...the latter meant ether a dhobi addressing my mom with folded hands making excuses for a torn sari, or me being sarcastic to a lady when I was angry with her for rebuking me.
The males on the father side, like paternal uncles, had this Garu suffix but not folks on the mother's side even when they were male.
Maternal Uncle was just 'Mama' while 'Mama Garu' was altogether a different person...he was uncle by marriage like the Father-in-Law...
This was an instance of the patriarchal system in which folks on the father's side demanded respect while those on the mother's side were closer and friendlier.
At school all our friends were called by their good names like:
"Hey Prabhakar, pass on your answer script!"
"Wait, Sudhakar, let Sir turn his back"
We were of course not allowed to speak to girls and so I didn't know a whit about the few that were in school.
All male teachers were Sirs and the couple of female teachers were:
"Ranemma and Annpaurnamma"
There goes the 'amma' syndrome again...even the lady CM who is out of jail on bail today is always 'Amma!' for her party workers.
Things changed when we graduated to our university at Vizagh, the port city now devastated by the cyclone-bird Hudhud. Teachers were of course still, Sirs, but all strangers like bank clerks in decent clothes behind counters were also Sirs, like:
"Sir, could you please change this torn note, sir!"
inviting the courteous reply:
"Get lost, sir!"
Friends however addressed each other as Gurus, like:
"Guru, how about a hand-loan of ten rupees till tomorrow, Guru?"
"Sorry Guru, I have yet to get the Money Order from home, Guru"
"No harm trying, Guru"
"None, Guru"
It was thinkable that we called our teachers Gurus...they would be offended. So too if we called our friends Sirs...they would be offended...since I am not on Facebook I don't know how Facebook friends address each other, if at all they do.
At Vizagh things suddenly changed for me one day when there was this news item that one Gurujee was visiting Vizagh and he would address the public in Railway Maidan and his speech in Hindi would be simultaneously translated sentence by sentence into Telugu. This instant translation excited me and I went there to watch it (it was free).
And there he was, standing on the podium in front of his creaking mike, like a typical Yogi giving his seated sermon on Chapter 15 of Gita (a favorite then for all spiritual discourses).
But when I heard it (in translation), not a word of Gita or Upanishads was there...it was a different address by an altogether different Gurujee hailing from Nagpur...
He spoke well and extempore...I however can't say how good our translator was since I knew no Hindi then (and little Hindi now).
...Posted by Ishani
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