Reconstrucing Hindi

I made a pit stop at Walmart (castle of evil... damn their low prices!!) to replenish my yarn supply. Since half of the people that I know are having babies, one project finished, another started yesterday.

Where I would usually take advantage of the self-checkout line, to avoid negative Walmart employee attitude, I decided to jump into a line where a small Indian woman was the cashier. Upon putting my stuff on the belt, I noticed that the woman in front of me was speaking fluent Hindi. She was not Indian, or of Indian decent... from the looks of her.

The three of us started talking, and I asked said woman where she learned to speak fluent Hindi. Her response... Bollywood films.

Bollywood (Hindi: बॉलीवूड, Urdu: بالی وڈ) is the informal term popularly used for the Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the Indian film industry. Bollywood is one of the largest film producers in the world and the largest in terms of number of films produced.

The name is a portmanteau of Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood, the center of the American film industry. However, unlike Hollywood, Bollywood does not exist as a real physical place. Though some deplore the name, arguing that it makes the industry look like a poor cousin to Hollywood.

Now, we are not talking about this chick taking classes and then applying them to movies. She literally became fluent while watching Hindi movies. I have always been pretty good at picking up languages... but this is kind of insane. Listening to this woman was amazing.

Basically, I need to get on the ball with learning my Hindi. I have been completely slacking off with it lately. I need a tutor though. I tried to catch this woman to inquire as to if she would be interested in tutoring, but I lost her. Bummer.

Side note: My friend, Kari, thinks that I should write a book. I find this hilarious and intriguing.