I kid you not at Twisted DNA

I kid you not

Published June 19th, 2006

When you move to a different country and, somewhat, adapt to a different culture, you get used to certain language constructs and mannerisms which, if used in India or with friends from India, would be received with confusion, frustration, sarcasm or a combination of all.

On my last trip to India, a friend of mine actually said, with genuine surprise and shock, “You changed a lot! You are talking like Americans, as if you are born and brought up there.” If, for one moment, you think that was a compliment, you don’t know anything about sarcasm.

Here is a funny situation I gotten myself into on my last trip:

Me: Whatever happened to Mr. ABC?

Friend: Oh, you don’t know, na? He became a disciple of a swamiji and has sworn to celibacy, ya.

Me: No kidding!!

Friend: (Quite angry) No I am not joking! Why will I joke about such things? I am not the kind who spreads lies and rumors for fun.

Me: Er… When I said “No kidding,” I was not referring to your comedic skills, you know. It was an exclamation.

Friend: I don’t know. Talking like Americans has become a fashion these days.

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12 Responses to “I kid you not”

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1 Ilaiy Jun 20th, 2006 at 9:42 am

Well you feel that you have not changed a bit .. But i guess it is always there in the other person mind that you have changed ..

Well it has been ages since I travelled back to india so I would not know ..

./thanks
ilaiy
2 Twisted DNA Jun 20th, 2006 at 9:45 am

I think I have changed. Not changing when living in a differnt country is impossible. What I don’t understand is why people act surprised upon realizing I am changed and worse yet, why people expect me to be exactly like I was 10 years ago.
3 Ilaiy Jun 20th, 2006 at 10:46 am

Well changed meaning .. As a person you are still the same .. Well I donot know should say that because 10 years back I had the same nice time as what I do now ..

The way I look at things are a little different now ..I think if I was in India it would have been the same ..

Thats just my personal opinion .

./thanks
ilaiy
4 Casement Jun 20th, 2006 at 2:56 pm

Have you heard something like…When in Rome…

So, replace your no kidding with ….arrrrrrrrreeeey, realllyy, the next time when you talk to a friend in India:)

Poor fella…I can relate to him.
5 sonia Jun 21st, 2006 at 2:40 am

very funny - and so true! i actually had the same experience with a dear nigerian friend who was very *earnest*. i think i said sth like ..nah! you must be lying!..and he was really upset and said - i do not lie. i am a good christian!

it’s interesting how so often a part of wanting to hang on to the past is to expect people not to ‘change’. i mean even if someone hasn’t actually moved countries, the passage of time still ensures lots of changes! i had this one friend who started every sentence with ..’but in the old days..you were like this//’. i couldn’t be friends with her anymore - she wasn’t interested in me actually, but in what/who she thought i was.
6 Jamie Jun 21st, 2006 at 2:27 pm

Other reactions you must test:

“Shut Up!!”
“Get out!!”
“You’re killing me!”
7 Twisted DNA Jun 21st, 2006 at 2:55 pm

Casement: I’ve gotten similar reactions by just saying “Really?!” which was met with “Ya, I am not lying”.

Sonia: I am guessing people are more willing to accept change as long as the change is similar to other people’s change. If you change “radically” by going to a diffent country, people have more trouble handling it!

Jamie: LOL, just imagining saying things like “Get out” to people is cracking me up.
8 Anu Jun 22nd, 2006 at 9:24 pm

This post has been removed by the author.
9 Navreet Jun 29th, 2006 at 10:02 pm

This post has been removed by the author.
10 Navreet Jun 29th, 2006 at 10:03 pm

Thanks to the diversity in india ..trust me… you don’t have to travel as far as America for people to react like that..

I moved a lot of places within India… Jodhpur…Delhi …Jamnagar…Hyderabad…Junagadh
…Pune..Chennai..Mumbai…Bangalore… and every time I shifted places and went back …such reactions hit me. But yes the sarcasm is higher when it is the US of A …..

PS# Thanks for visiting my blog.
11 cbrao Jul 21st, 2006 at 5:19 am

I can’t resist laugh after reading this. I kept laughting after reading this. Your blogs work like a tonic, when read early in the morning.Laughter is good for health.I thoroughly enjoyed the sense of humour in your blogs.
12 Dilnavaz Jul 28th, 2006 at 3:39 am

That was a scream! And I totally believe it. I moved back to India 5 months ago after 5 years in the United States and I still find myself explaining and clarifying certain figures of speech. Especially “are you kidding me?”

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