One day in about 1958 I got off the local bus at the Alwaye town bus station and, being used to N Indian pronunciation, said to a young lad who was waiting to pick up work carrying luggage, "Êvidê pogunnu" ("Where are you going"). I should have said "Evide pogunnu" with short e's, and the lad repeated my "Êvidê" with derision. I instantaneously learnt a lot about Malayalam phonetics.

The mystery is why I should say that to him. Probably because it was/is one of the few Malayalam phrases I know.

Last updated: 04 January 2005