Village Tales: At the beach

Then we ran down the sand and met the waves and drenched ourselves, tasting salt in our tongues.

At low tide we crossed the river with a fishing net and dozens of crows followed us, swirling blind with hunger.

The night was a falling curtain across the sky when we returned. We had live crabs and small fish that we could fry for dinner, so small that they would melt in our mouths, all meat, bone and skin.

Village Tales: Language crisis

TEN YEARS AGO

Back then, if you did not speak the local language, you needed to know enough in order to convey your ignorance.

Here are some samples of what a rootless city-bred boy used while making friends with the local kids playing a cricket match:

"Nanage Kannada Barudilla"
(I DO NOT KNOW KANNADA)

"Tulu bodchi"
(DON'T WANT TULU...!)

"Malayalam aruyula.."
(DON'T KNOW MALAYALAM)

They look at each other and manage to get through gesticulations - what do you speak then?

"Hindi.."

"Ha, Hindi..Hindi...," they repeat, trying to invent a word for my comfort.

Village Tales: The net is cast