I learnt some new facts about my co-author Sujatha in a post she wrote at her blog. Responding to an Internet game of tag among bloggers, she revealed a few hitherto unknown (to me) talents and proclivities. The two that caught my eye particularly are:
3. Languages known: English (best of all), Tamil (really well, but unfortunately I never did learn any swear words in it, even though it's my mother tongue), Hindi (enough to sing along with Bollywood songs and understand the dialog), Malayalam (enough to pass for a Tamilian speaking Malayalam badly), Sanskrit (enough to be dangerous trying to figure out when the priest at the local temple has bumbled in his rendition), French (Parisien accent, rolled 'rr's and all...) Plus, I can read Cyrillic and Urdu scripts, though I am rather rusty with the lack of practice. I'm aiming to learn Telugu, Bengali, Arabic and Chinese as well, if I can get hold of enough online material.
8.I love creepy-crawlies and spend an inordinate amount of time trying to save spiders, centipedes and the like from the attacks of the 'Bug Squad' ( M & S armed with fly-swatters and bug vacuums).
I knew that Sujatha knows several languages well. But that she can read Cyrillic and Urdu scripts came as a complete surprise to me and I am properly impressed. The second revelation impressed me even more - her love for creepy-crawlies and the time she spends trying to save them. I am wondering if Sujatha ever goes as far as this kind woman to help a spider. See the photo below and read the post to find out the spider's reaction to her "helping hand" interventions. (link to Nina Katchadourian's website via 3QD)
The spider's 'rejection' of Nina's 'efforts to repair' make for grand comedy indeed! I'm not sure that even I would go to such an extent- I would probably try transplanting the spider to a less-likely-to-be-disturbed location. Though, for all my efforts, the spider might judge otherwise since it might not get as many 'visitors' in the new spot.
The Cyrillic script learning was during a vacation when I found a stack of 'How to learn Russian" booklets, and learned the basics of Cyrillic and a few Russian words. Writing in cursive form was vastly more challenging, but looked gorgeous. A few years later,I found an ancient book in a friend's bookshelf and borrowed it to learn the Urdu script. The hard part of reading/writing it was figuring out the way the letters got modified as they were joined in a word. As I said, I'm very rusty, but can get back in form with a little practice, I'm sure.
Posted by: Sujatha | May 01, 2008 at 08:16 AM
i know a person whose love for god's dumb creatures include crawly-creepy things!! she never ceases to amaze me. she rescues animals, takes them home-in the bargain she has 9 dogs, three cats, a squirrel and what else, i cant keep count. I've known her once to sanatch a snake which was being attacked by college students, swing it round over her head and fling it away! and she didnt get bitten!!
by the way, sujatha seems to be an extremely interesting and accomplished person. i enjoy her posts
Posted by: kochuvthresiamma P J | May 02, 2008 at 09:25 AM
Kochuthresiamma,
I don't think I qualify as accomplished, though I am interested in a lot of things- more a case of 'Jill of all trades and mistress of none' here. But it does make for a lot of fun and enjoyment!
That sounds like quite a remarkable lady to risk picking up a poisonous(?)snake to save it. I hope it got away without injury. How does she keep the peace between the dogs, cats and squirrel: she must have the skill set of a Dr.Dolittle to cope, I'm sure.
Posted by: Sujatha | May 02, 2008 at 12:34 PM
me and my daughter, that also like u, love the cats, send u a great kiss from brazil!!!
Posted by: maggie schmidt and stephanie | May 11, 2008 at 08:05 PM
this lady blogs. her blog id is chinnysthoughts.blogspot.com. writes beautiful poems. but for some reason,cant access thru blogsearch. guess it's 'cos she has just started and doesn't have enuf matter
Posted by: kochuthresiamma P J | May 22, 2008 at 08:13 AM
I once had a squirrel invite himself into my home. I was amazed by how friendly it was. It would sit on my shoulder and run around the house. It was so young and must have lost its mother young. It had no clue that I was human and that normally squirrels are afraid of us. But, one day it came up missing just like it had come. I don't know what happened to it. But, I had it for about two weeks and it was great.
Posted by: Jessica Brylan | December 09, 2008 at 08:13 AM