Madrasi

Back in my phase of Russian waltzes and Ishmit's plays, I met this guy who told me, all sardonically, 'The problem with you, my dear, is you're too bloody well brought up.'

I caught myself wincing when I heard someone going 'Yen di alugara?' and continuing the conversation along that general modality. Alugara! I mean, really! I'm not being snobbish here, but it was a crude enough shock to make me feel like I was on the sets of Veeraswamy or bonding with fisherwomen or something.

I'm not saying there isn't a place for that kind of dialect, it's just that when you hear it at Google, it's so out of place, so entirely downmarket slumdog, that I'd far rather they weren't speaking Tamil at all. And really, I don't get why just because they're speaking some convoluted corrupted form of Tamil, I'm meant to be able to bond with them... I'd far rather talk to someone who's speaking even Swahili in a more humane way.