learning russian...

i got enrolled myself for an mba degree from a reputed institute in moscow. the semester was to begin in august the following year, and as i had some time, i decided to learn russian language. i also bought a red color tshirt with a communist symbol printed on it.

a tutor started comming home for taking classes in russian. he was an old man with a stern face. he gave me gyaan on the importance of learning a language and other crap. he insisted on learning sanskrit for russian was more close to our own language. i asked him how would he say 'pathami pahaway pathsi pathat' in sanskrit. he seemed offended and asked me if i was trying to test his knowledge in sanskrit. he did not respond. that day and for the next three days i learnt aa, bay, vay, gha and other alphabets.

i was bored and i told him that. he asked what could be the other way to learn a foreign language. i suggested it would be good if he told me the russian equivalent of some basic english words. that day i learnt scaf, sistera, kartosh, komnata, and few other words.

next day i asked him the russian word for friend, boy, girl, and finally the last one [which i wanted to be the first] girlfriend. he was offended. i wanted to impress a girl i liked by speaking a little russian and using the girlfriend word. just wanted to try my luck by speaking a foreign language because hindi, english, kumaoni, and nepali had not been enough to directly communicate my feelings. and here this stupid buger was upset.

for the two weeks he did not turn up. by now i had lost interest in him, russian, and that girl. i saw bobby talking to her, and she smiling and laughing. which was rare when i hovered around her!

much later, we had two visitors from russia and an acquaintance had problems remembering their names. to vent my frustration and take some sort of revenge on the past russian experience, I simplified the pronounciation for the acquaintance. Poor Natasha and Dima had no idea why i was all smiles when this acquaintance would address them as batasha and dimak!

i could not join that mba program as the russian economy was down, and the college expenses were too high.