10 December 2020

Great family evening… with a new guest!!

Work went a little late and by the time I wrapped up dinner it was nearly 9 PM. The sharp cold in Atlanta has somewhat abated. It was a good day to sit around a fire. Which is what Sharmila and I did.

After some time, we heard a familiar meow. I say familiar because yesterday, we had a cat show up at our door. Natasha had tended to it while I tried to find out from the neighbors if any were short of cat count by one. (None were). The cat would not come indoors. So, Natasha left food, water and a cozy bed in the garage and settled it there. The garage door had to be kept open. Everytime she tried closing it, the cat would dart out.

In a few hours, the cat was gone! This morning, got a call from somebody about a mile away that it is their cat (I had posted a picture in the local bulletin) and that it is not exactly lost. It is an outside cat, does not like to come indoors and will generally hang around for some time and then leave.

Well, that cat was back!! Now, I am not big into cats – in fact, I get an allergy attack (in the eyes mainly) if a cat comes too close to me. But Natasha loves them. Well, a quick call later, all five us settled down by the fire. The cat would not leave Natasha! Interestingly, it came to make friends with the dog. The dog just simply ignored it!! (And they say it is a spaniel and terrier mix! My left foot, it is!).

After about a couple of hours, Natasha went inside. The cat, on a cue, left our property. I waited for the embers to simmer down and then came inside myself.

Nice family evening!

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9 December 2020

Now up to 6 language alphabets

Acquired a passing acquaintance with Farsi letters. To be sure, I still cannot get the right pronunciation for “ghein” or “qaf” (identical pronunciations, I am told). And I know only isolated letters. But it was good enough to read a signboard inside the local Bezoria restaurant yesterday. (Needless to say, normally I would have no idea what the word meant but the context was helpful in understanding the word “shawarma”).

So, here are the six language alphabets that I have learnt arranged reverse chronologically of when I learnt them.

Thinking of learning Thai letters next. They almost look like notes on a music sheet (another thing I cannot read, of course).

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6 December 2020

The isolated Farsi alphabets

Have now learnt all the Farsi alphabets and how to write them. To be sure, when I say “writing”, I mean as the letters would be written by themselves. When actually written in cursive handwriting, the shapes can differ depending on whether they are the first letter, somewhere in the middle or the last letter in a word. I have not learnt those. I need more practice still. (If I can rattle off and write backwards – meaning last letter to first letter, I feel I have memorized well enough).

The two letters in red have the same pronunciation but I cannot pronounce them. See a funny suggestion from Anand here.

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5 December 2020

Farsi alphabet lessons

Took the motorbike to Ballground for a ride and coffee. While there, had a call with my good friend Anand’s wife Firouzeh (who is from Tehran, Iran) to fine tune the proper pronunciation of the Farsi alphabets. I think I am within striking range for most of them. Other than the two alphabets “ghain” and “qaf”. They are pronounced identically – and I can’t get it.

In Bengali and Hindi, we have a letter for “gh”. There is no single English letter for it but it is pronounced like “gh”ost. I asked Anand (who knows Bengali and Hindi pronunciations) if he could gauge how close the pronunciations were.

He said something to the effect of if Sharmila were to strangle me and I were to try pronouncing “kh” (the second letter in Bengali/Hindi), then I might come close. On second thoughts, I will give it a pass…

5 December 2020

The days are getting colder…

Went out with a lot of layers. The wind was a little bothersome. The run itself was enjoyable. Right at the very end, I thought the familiar calf pain was starting to creep up. Hopefully that was only an imagination. Cannot deal with longer term rest from running.

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