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Stuck Between Hello and Namaskaram

Monika D
5 min readMay 6, 2025

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Pexels Generated — kerala kathakali

I come from a Punjabi background — born and brought up in North India. My life was mostly around Punjabi, Hindi, and official English. That’s it. No drama.

But then came marriage. And life decided to send me all the way to the southern end of India — Kerala. A beautiful place — green, peaceful, almost like a postcard. I thought, “Wow, this will only add to the romance and magic between us.” But soon I realized… something had quietly slipped between us.
Wait — was it a third person?
Nope.
It was the language. 🙂

“Malayalam became the unexpected twist in our love story.”
Turns out, love alone wasn’t enough — language brought its own drama.

Everyone here speaks Malayalam — and I mean everyone. Even numbers, shop names, road signs, and random jargons — everything has a Malayalam twist!
It’s like the entire city runs on one language and looks at you funny if you don’t. Sometimes I would just stare at boards and wonder, “Is that a hospital or a grocery store?” Even calling for a cab or ordering food felt like decoding a secret code. I wasn’t just in a new place — I was in a whole new language…

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Published in Koffee Konversations

Koffee Konversations is an open space for everyone to share their stories, ideas, and experiences. Whether it’s about life or personal journeys, join and connect with like-minded people ready to discuss and inspire.