What beautiful writing!
Isn’t this sign cool? Doesn’t it seem to reveal all the secrets of all the gurus powering around India? I expect Sai Baba to jump out from behind a bush at any minute. This sign is in our local language, Kanada. Many people think all of India speaks Hindi, but that is a Northern language, here in the South, other languages dominate.
When Greer and Michael were visiting us, Greer said “I wish our language looked as pretty as theirs!”
“Oh it does!” I said. “When you can read a language, the beauty of the characters goes away and all you can see is the message.” I know this is true because of Rahman, the wood carver. You remember him from the Decorating blogs. He’s the one who carved the beautiful trees, flowers, elephants, camels and curlicues on our furniture. He loves to carve and can’t stop even when off duty. One day, he saw pieces of furniture with “Made in Taiwan” and “ Made in Hong Kong” burn-stamped on the back. He was fascinated with the round design and the beautiful letters. Rahman reads and writes Urdu, one of those swirly- looking languages. The alphabet we use is a complete mystery to him, just as Urdu alphabets are to us.
He was so enthralled, he carved a tiny burn-stamp upside down and backwards and proceeded to burn lots and lots of impressions on the underside of all his hand-carved designs! I am sad that none of my pieces got the special treatment. However, Saam Madam was NOT pleased. It took her hours to explain that “Made in Taiwan” wasn’t a high honor. He was unhappy with her as well. It took him several weeks to get over the sulks.
Now then, what does the sign really say? Don’t you wish you didn’t know?
This is what the pretty sign says.
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