On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Gautam John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Why is it that so many casual hellos that occur in, AFAIK, Karnataka > centre around food and drink? > > Oota aithe? Thinde aithe? Coffee aithe? Nashta aithe? (Roughly > translated, eaten lunch/snack/breakfast, partaken in a cup of coffee?) > > Is this common to other cultures too? > Nice.... I had noticed that when I first came down to Bangalore, now I take it as a part of daily intercourse (hur hur). In the initial days, when people used to meet me, casually, passing through aisles in the library or wandering across the dusty pathways, and ask, with the greatest of concern, whether I have had my food, I used to get very unnerved. It is a thing, that in my experience, has been limited to mothers and/or hosts who you might be playing guest to. But to think that here was an entire city, concerned about whether or not I had my timely food was slightly bewildering. I, of course, had another added worry to the whole phenomenon. In my experience, when friends or colleagues or people one knows ask about the status of the meal, it is generally to indicate that they might also not yet have partaken of it and would like to join me for it. And so, when people asked me the question, I used to reply, generally, by saying, "Sorry, yes, I have already eaten... " and then get more bewildered by them saying they are at the same state. It would be interesting to see where this anxiety about having eaten comes from. Are there any 'natives' who have a more cultural explanation for why this happens? Is it at the level of the language, or hospitality, or cultural expression or what have you? Nishant (who writes long) -- Nishant Shah Doctoral Candidate, CSCS, Bangalore. Director (Research), Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore Asia Awards Fellow, 2008-09 # 0-9740074884
