Learning a new language? This should help…

This happened in 2004. I had just started learning the local form of Oriya spoken in Koraput district. I was there for my Ph.D in Ethnobotany and was hosted by IRDWSI in one of their residential quarters. The roof of the room where I was staying used to leak during rains and hence I had requested the mason to plug the holes in the cement-asbestos roof.

The mason and I were on the roof top and two young girls were on the ground helping the mason with the cement slurry. It happened once that the mason wanted the shallow hemi-spherical vessel used to carry cement slurry. He asked me for the vessel. Being eager to test my oratorical skills in Oriya, I asked the girl ‘se bond deo’ (give me that bond. Bond is the word used for the vessel in Tamil Nadu). I was just using a hybrid language. To my surprise, the girls stopped working and started starring at me. I was wondering what offended her. Then the mason, who was initiated into the profession by a mason from Tamil Nadu came for my help and explained me that the word in the local slang refers to the private parts of a human being. Only then I did realise that I just had escaped from the sickle!!