Makan Oh Lydia ??

Can't make any sense lah, no problem lah, read on lah!!

As I inch towards completing my third week in Singapore, I look back at the time that I spent in this magical tropical island nation. This country and its people have such a tolerant attitude and they have accepted me as one of their own. It just feels like yesterday that I landed here full of apprehensions about the new land and culture. The other fear that was plaguing me was the fact that Singapore is 2.5 hours ahead of India and to get to office at nine in the morning I would have to get up at 4 am India time, which is something I have never done in my entire life, if you possibly exclude the time as a newborn I might have woken up every two hours for feeding (the operative word here being might, as knowing myself as I do I strongly suspect I did not!!!) I had these nightmares I would be sent home in disgrace for never reaching office on time! Having said that I think I have done quite OK these couple of weeks and will miss Singapore on my return to India.

The thing that I will miss most is the quaint language known as Singlish. Which is spoken in a sing song manner and I am sure is a literal translation of sentences in their native tongue into English. Quite similar to the literal translations of Hindi into English, "Why you rotating outside the girls hostel" a literal translation of "Ladkiyo ke hostel ke bahar kyon chakkar kaat rahe the" :))

You OK lah ?

Please lah, Dont like that lah!!!

Aeiyo, I don know, but I find for you lah ?

I pass it already lah?

Also Can Lah!!!

Can Can Lah!!!

These ones you can still understand, but the one that had me scratching my head was "You Makan Oh lydia". We have this lady in office who helps keep the office clean and tidy, everyone calls her Auntie. She has been very friendly since day one and I quite like her smiling face, she reminds me of a happy sunflower. I was in the washroom when she asked me "You Makan Oh lydia" and I was left staring at her for a few secs,  and I like a dumb idiot told her "Haan main theek hoon", I realised what I had done and answered in English at which she "OK lah" followed by a burst of Chinese amid great laughter!!! I walked back to me desk and asked my colleagues what "You Makan Oh  lydia" meant, they were at sea and said it meant nothing! After a while one of girls burst into laughter and said Auntie asked "Whether you had food...YOU MAKAN ALREADY!!!" Apparently most of the Indians in Singapore know Malay and MAKAN in Malay mean food, as in you ate already!!!