kalasmelogra
'kalasmelogra' is the term I should give to some of the things I realised during my UK visit. Right from food to the English accent, the world is a mixture of all types. In one sense, I myself had this question, "Am I not mixture of many types?"
See the picture above. It is Edinburgh Iyengar Yoga Centre on one of the main streets of Edinburgh. I was very curious to knock the door and have a quick interaction, but couldn't find time to do that. Edinburgh does have Indians, may be around a thousand odd. Most of them belong to couple of Universities there, or on work permit for small projects.
Coming to food - I was totally confused what to eat. There are so many Indian restuarants that I could even choose between them. Most of them have this typical, "Indian and Bengali Restaurant". It was interesting to see that "Bengali" or in few cases, "Bangladeshi" cuisine. End result was, I didn't go to any of Indian hotels, rather settled for Pizza, Pasta, sandwiches, salads. I thought these to be more delicious than unknown Indian places which serve 'non-homemade' food. In general, Indian food for me means, home food. Anything eaten outside the house is not Indian. ;) A bit silly though.
Language - This was a big change for me. Not many people in UK speak good English. All businesses in the stores and restaurants are not handled by UK origins. So, the English they speak has a different accent influenced from Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Dutch, etc. If it is a native Scott, the accent is different from a native England person. Scotts have more stress on the letter 'r', more like German and Dutch people with 'rrrrrr' or 'rrrah'. People in England tend to make that 'r' silent. Taking so many guided tours in London, it was good to learn their accent by the time I boarded my flight back.
Many people at the conference and also at other places asked me, "Where are you from?" This was the trickiest question to answer. As I went there from the US, in geographical sense, I was from the US. But, I also had to complete my answer by mentioning India for sure. With all these, next reality is, my English accent belongs to no where. US people will surely notice I am not from the US. Even though Indian English has influence of British accent, UK people will notice my English is not British English. And finally, if I land now in India and start speaking English, in reality, it will sound different from what I used to speak 5 years ago. Overall, my accent is mixed up (or messed up). ha ha ha.
Roads in UK are very small. Road signs and markings are all similar to the what we see in India. Cars are too small. There are not many big cars in UK, very few. Gas prices are too high. They pay $6+ per gallon. Car prices are also too high. A brand new Honda Civic costs around $30,000. Note - this model is smaller than the US version!
See the picture above. It is Edinburgh Iyengar Yoga Centre on one of the main streets of Edinburgh. I was very curious to knock the door and have a quick interaction, but couldn't find time to do that. Edinburgh does have Indians, may be around a thousand odd. Most of them belong to couple of Universities there, or on work permit for small projects.Coming to food - I was totally confused what to eat. There are so many Indian restuarants that I could even choose between them. Most of them have this typical, "Indian and Bengali Restaurant". It was interesting to see that "Bengali" or in few cases, "Bangladeshi" cuisine. End result was, I didn't go to any of Indian hotels, rather settled for Pizza, Pasta, sandwiches, salads. I thought these to be more delicious than unknown Indian places which serve 'non-homemade' food. In general, Indian food for me means, home food. Anything eaten outside the house is not Indian. ;) A bit silly though.
Language - This was a big change for me. Not many people in UK speak good English. All businesses in the stores and restaurants are not handled by UK origins. So, the English they speak has a different accent influenced from Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Dutch, etc. If it is a native Scott, the accent is different from a native England person. Scotts have more stress on the letter 'r', more like German and Dutch people with 'rrrrrr' or 'rrrah'. People in England tend to make that 'r' silent. Taking so many guided tours in London, it was good to learn their accent by the time I boarded my flight back.
Many people at the conference and also at other places asked me, "Where are you from?" This was the trickiest question to answer. As I went there from the US, in geographical sense, I was from the US. But, I also had to complete my answer by mentioning India for sure. With all these, next reality is, my English accent belongs to no where. US people will surely notice I am not from the US. Even though Indian English has influence of British accent, UK people will notice my English is not British English. And finally, if I land now in India and start speaking English, in reality, it will sound different from what I used to speak 5 years ago. Overall, my accent is mixed up (or messed up). ha ha ha.
Roads in UK are very small. Road signs and markings are all similar to the what we see in India. Cars are too small. There are not many big cars in UK, very few. Gas prices are too high. They pay $6+ per gallon. Car prices are also too high. A brand new Honda Civic costs around $30,000. Note - this model is smaller than the US version!
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