Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Linchuphalinchuphalinchuphaaaaaal!

That strange tongue twisting sound has been reverberating in our neighbourhood for the past several mornings. At first I thought it was "lintuparintuparintupaaaal", utter gobbledygook to my ears, but on repeated, closer hearings, it became clearer.
There was a strange melody to it. Ever since it first registered, I'd be wondering what it was. One morning, determined to solve this annoying mystery, I went into my balcony trying to figure out what on earth the vendor was selling. The voice was heard, close by, but there was no sign of anyone with any worldly goods to dispose of. I went into my parents' balcony, following the sound. The kadamb tree was blocking my view, but I did see the vendor uttering this strange cry.
He looked up, seeing me as a potential customer, but I looked away, not having the language skills to deal with him and his mysterious product. There was still no sign of what he was actually selling. He'd probably put it down on the ground, out of my line of vision.
I wandered back into the house, trying to tidy up, with the mysterious 'linchuphalinchu' echoing in my brain. "Phal"(fruit) registered- the question was, which particular fruit?
I went out into the balcony to hang up my towel.
And spotted the man on his way out of our lane with a basket of lychees on his head!

Apparently it isn't "linchu", but "lichu" in Bangla!
( I asked a Bengali friend on my walk the next morning).

Mystery solved!

11 comments:

Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...

Hehehe! Did you enjoy a few?

Unknown said...

Remind me to do the call for you when we meet.

Mystic Margarita said...

Lol! I love lichu! Hope you had some :)

DotThoughts said...

lol! yummmmmmm. did you buy any?

Aneela Z said...

Oh gman "sung" it for me just now...and I reckon we will be listening to it all day now...he has something else to add "machlin machlinmachlinmaaaaaaaachhh"

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm, reminds me of a trip to Delhi. We had lichi's with our breakfast.

Phoenixritu said...

LOL and I spent five minutes spelling it out loud and figuring out how to pronounce it!!!

How 'bout kalehikalephalseyyyyy

Go figure!

Choxbox said...

LOL!

when my kid was 3 one time we were on a des trip. she was completely astonished by the vendors in the galli and asked why that man was yelling so much!

Suki said...

:slurp:
Lichu in this heat, yummyyy!

Have you ever heard the ones who come around with tools to cut the "sil-batta"? They say "sil-katau!" in such a way that the first half is almost a hiss, and then all you'll really hear is an "-aow!"
Gran had to explain that one to me, hehe.

Mom Gone Mad said...

harhar!

Okay, now tell me you bought some!

dipali said...

@ everyone: I bought lichu from the fruit shop at the corner, not from the musical(!) vendor!
This cry is now going round and round in my head.
Aneela: enjoy gman's version!
Ritu: Not too tough! Haven't had phalsa for years:(
Chox: That's exactly what I often think too:)
Suki: haven't heard that yet- must concentrate!