“In a world where everybody has a tail, the one without it is considered physically handicapped”
As any other day, I was going on about with my daily ritual of scanning the newspaper when this particular caption caught my attention. The article as such was irrelevant but the caption triggered a chord in my memory and inspired me to write this post.
When I moved here to Tamil Nadu, the folks here used to tease and taunt me because of my English accent which had a tinge of Malayalam in it. They used to make me repeat ‘college’ and ‘office’ n such ‘ooo’ words over and over. Though given casually it was painful nonetheless. There was one particular girl who laughs right in my face when I speak. It doesn’t seem a big deal now. But you have to understand that I was at a new place with no friends and absolutely no one to staunchly support me. I was miserable throughout my first year here. You could say it was quite a blow to my self confidence. My battered confidence and bruised pride incapacitated me of my ability to speak in public. Even today when I stand on a stage, I am a bunch of tightly knotted nerves shivering all over.
Hmmm. I think you got more whining than you bargained for he he he but please do read on, I have a point to make. People here think that what they know is the correct accent. And I can’t convince them otherwise because I am outnumbered. Here is where you apply the caption I mentioned above. When the majority has a tail, the tail-less “ME” is considered handicapped!!!!! A parallel situation occurs when a tamilian moved to kerala. They would undoubtedly be teased for their words like cross or zero where they are the ones sans tail and hence handicapped.
Alright!! Jokes apart, lets take a broader view. Who is considered the ultimate authority regarding the english accent? In my opinion, absolutely no one!! An American is said to have American accent when he is anywhere outside America. Same goes for British, French or Spaniards. They are all handicapped when they are out of their circle.
So what I am trying to say is BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Or rather, in this case,
ACCURACY IS IN THE PERCEPTION OF THE LISTENER !!!! 
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Everytime you make a good selection of picture. Good. Every malayalee will read this with pride. Short & Good. Every reader will end reading this with a smile.
Kudos.
i didn mean tis exclusively 4 malayalees. i meant 4 every1 who teases based on language.
Not every malayalee Ajoy. it is for evey human being.
Heard of the comedian Russell Peters? He’s indian staying overseas. He imitates the various english accents in places the world over in his stage shows. Its awesome. there are lot such his videos in Youtube. try it.
hi …….
once again u presented ur theme very nicely…………
to start wit,malayalam accent is somethin which really sounds gud n nice to hear……… even we also did same thing in our class too(teasing) but all just for FUN………….
as guys here ritely said , its not for malayalees alone…. even tamilians also ve diferent accent,…….. it all depends upon were U are………..
exactly “perception of the listener/eye of beholder”…………..
Initially while reading this I thought, ‘Oh boy! Why such a serious topic?’ But it ended up well.
Very clean piece of writing.
I accidently saw this blog while searching on internet for something which can help me. Actually i also have similar problem where i belong to mumbai but recently shifted to chennai from my company (wipro infotech). though i can communicate with some adjustments but there are few people who keep on teasing. I am searching for someone who can guide me to learn the culture of south as soon as possible.
this may sound a little weird but help me if possible
and ABOVE ALL NICE ARTICLE..