Wow... what a pile of synchronicities. I'm American by birth and the only foreign country I've ever visited (so far) is India [the state Kerala to be specific.] It happens to be the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. I lived in a monastery for 4 months in which I learned to read and write the Malayalam language: Tamil's cousin tongue!
They are intricately related for many hundreds of years. You may know that already, but I'm blown away by the (not-so-)coincidence! In my far-fetched dream, I would like to revisit Malayalam later in life and learn Hindi as well. Now, you're telling me I have to add Tamil to the list?!? 😂😂😂
Such a strange coincidence! I have quite extensive connections with Kerala. For few years i worked in and around Malayalam film industry. I have tried, in so many ways, to popularize Malayalam movies in Poland. I worked with several distributors to make it happen. And though my success in all these undertaking was and still is minimal, i can easily say, i am Keralite by heart, and Polish by birth.
No, now i can say you either vanakkam or namaskaram. Which greetings would you choose? ;)
Hahaha, I am fond of namaskaram for its relation to namaste. Though, I can also say എനിക സന്തോഷം ആണ് because to meet another Keralite-in-spirit makes me quite happy. @sayee is a friend of mine and fellow poet from Kerala, if you've yet to meet her :-)
I would be more surprised, but once life reveals a kindred spirit to me, it all makes sense! A large portion of my heart also belongs to Kerala. It may sound odd, but I always felt out of place in my home country. Kerala was the first place I felt like I belonged anywhere on this planet. I was very sad to leave.
This is so cool.
P.S. here's a picture of my Malayalam study notebook when I was training with an eager pedant and priest around my same age who agreed to train me :-)
Since you are Keralite-in-spirit, let me send you some photos of mine with familiar faces ;) .
Wonderful. Thank you for sharing those. 😍 Once I finally get around to blogging about my transformative time in Kerala in detail, I'll have to leaf through my hundreds of pictures.... lol..
I've put off blogging about it partially because I immaturely made the promise to return before I left, when I actually found the environment difficult to endure: primarily the level of air pollution.
I still feel bad about not keeping my word and miss all the wonderful people I met while I was there.
(Btw, I was staying in a CMI (Carmelites of Mary Immaculate) monastery in Trivandrum proper, but they took me to many places around Kerala and a couple in Tamil Nadu.)
Welcome. Ah, so you too were immersed in Christian parts of Kerala. Among my photos from India there is also some from Jacobite Syrian mass i was invited to participate in, too. If you are interested, there are dozens of articles on me in various media outlets from Kerala, in English and Malayalam alike. And maybe i should actually start to share my Indian experiences here, too.
Yes, I would love to get the links to some of those articles. The ones in Malayalam, unfortunately, will be mostly inscrutable for me now. 4 months wasn't long enough to get above an elementary skill level and I focused on reading & writing the sounds, while still not knowing what they actually meant for 70%+ of words.
My dream is still to become proficient, some day. That will likely coincide with when I actually return :-)
Here you go:
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/mollywood/290717/a-polish-admirer-in-mollywood.html
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/angamaly-diaries-poland-european-audience-impressed-lijo-jose-pellisserys-movie-722602
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/dulquer-salmaans-jomonte-suviseshangal-mohanlals-munthirivallikal-thalirkkumbol-be-released-714080
http://www.onlookersmedia.in/latestnews/mohanlal-came-and-bartosz-czarnotta-s-dream-come-true
And many, many more. Also there are few articles in Tamil as well.