An Experiment on Mumbai Locals

Courtesy the desire to have a thought a day on this new blog, I thought why not try something interesting. I am learning Chinese and a thought came to my mind - why not try practising Chinese in the middle of a local train and observe the responses of the people around :P.

Well this experiment was done in two phases, the first was today in the morning when I was with some folks from the classes and the next when I was heading back home alone in the train.

So here it goes.... So here my friend Alok and I, sitting in the train when we started discussing the Chinese pronunciations and trying to pronounce "Malad" the Chinese way. Which was - "MAAA - LAAAA - DE"; with the negotiation happening about how to pronounce the last word "D" to Chinese Pronunciation Perfection! After some initial discussion I observed the person sitting next to me stare at me weirdly and that's when I hit upon this idea. Alok and I then in earnest started practicing Chinese. 

The gentleman on my left got so scared that he actually shifted a little away from me, with a stunned/ shocked look on his face. I looked forward and the man in front of me was intently listening, wondering what is wrong with these folks, in fact he was kind enough to enquire about my health when I was getting off at Borivali.

The second stint started when I was heading back from Borivali. This time I did not have a partner in crime, so I thought I would really get some interesting views. When I got a seat, there are three sets of people who are worth mentioning, an elderly gentleman on my left, a couple and an old lady in front.

As I started pronouncing the Chinese syllables, the elderly gentleman thought I was reciting music and started singing too. Infact he was offended when he realized I was doing anything but reciting music. He frowned at me and started singing even louder, as if to drown out my terrible noise. I should be worried, seems I sound terrible :P.

The couple was really not interested in my recital till, for some god forsaken reason (honestly the Chinese I was screaming), made the guy think I was hitting on his girl :O. Let us not take anything away from this man, he was well stuffed with mass in the right places - biceps and gave me the dirty looks. Fearing for my health I promptly took out my notebook. I started smiling and did everything in my power to not look in that direction.

The old lady was my only solace, she was a stern looking one, but when she saw I was just a "little" kid studying, she smiled at me. Thankfully, it was time to get down at Andheri and I happily got down thinking of how interesting this experiment had been.

Honestly, I think the fact that "u" pronounced with the lips in a circle seems like you are hinting at kissing someone. Need to work on that, but loved the reactions. I think I will now try doing this in a best bus.