I enjoy meeting new people and talking about new things. It excites me. Makes me feel like I am a new man for a while and realize the vast boundaries of land I am yet to see.
Language is never an issue in such circumstances. English, being the national language of India ( Yes, I said it. You can get away with English in any capital, not Hindi) it is fair to assume that anybody who looks educated would speak the language.
But we do get overly excited when we see people who speak our mother tongue. It is a natural thing. We like to speak our tongue. It makes us feel .. at home.
Once, when I was en route to Bangalore in a bus, I met this gentleman who sat next to me. I was listening to music and so I did not pay much attention or even bother to have a conversation. The guy asked me something for which I nodded affirmatively. He assumed I spoke his language (Kannada, I guess) and started a conversation in it. I did not want to disappoint the fellow and hence I replied in English to what I could interpret from the dialogue. My responses were excused as I was also simultaneously listening to music.
We reached our destination and it was time to take off my earphones. I wanted to sneak away, but ended up meeting the guy at the other side of the bus. It was a question... or maybe a declarative statement. It had the word 'auto' in it and hence I assumed he asked me if I wanted to share a cab with him. I said 'no thank you, I am waiting for a friend to pick me up'. The guy paused for a while and gave me a look of disbelief. It was over.
He smiled and asked me, 'I thought you spoke Telugu. I asked you where I could get an auto rickshaw here'.
I smiled ... and blushed ... and pointed him to a driver.
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