Jim-Raja Conversations in English translation
Conversation 1
Raja: My name is Raja. What's your name?
Jim: My name is Jim. Where are you from? (“Which is your town?”)
Raja: I'm from Madurai. (Our [i.e. my family's] town is Madurai.)
Jim: Is this your house?
Raja: No. It's my younger brother's house.
Jim: Who's your younger brother?
Raja: This is my younger brother.
Jim: Is this your book?
Raja: Yes. It's my book.
Conversation 2
Jim: Is this a Tamil book or an English book?
Raja: It's a Tamil book.
Jim: Let me see it. (“Give it [to me].”)
Raja: Here you are. Read it.
Jim: I don't know how. Teach me Tamil.
Raja: Alright. Sit down.
Jim: What letter is this?
Raja: Wait a minute. (“Be a little.”) ... tampi, bring coffee for him.
Young brother: aṇṇā, here you are, coffee.
Conversation 3
Jim: I don't want coffee.
Raja: Drink some milk at least. (“Eat at least milk”).
Jim: Aright, please bring some.
(Jim brings the milk.)
Raja: Now read this.
(Jim reads the book)
Jim: Is this the way you read? (“Should [one] read this way?”)
Raja: No. One should not read that way.
(Raja reads)
Raja: Read this way.
Jim: I have to go home. I'll read it tomorrow.
Raja: All right.
Jim: Goodbye. (“I'll go [and then] I'll come.”)
Raja: Goodbye. (“Go [and then] come.”)
Conversation 4
Jim: May I come in? (OR: Shall I come in?)
Raja: Come in. Sit down. How are you? (“[Are you] well?”)
Jim: I'm fine.
Raja: Shall we read the lesson?
Jim: Let's not have lesson today. Let's go out.
Raja: Where shall we go?
Jim: You say.
Raja: Shall we go to a restaurant?
Jim: All right. Shall we invite your younger brother along, too?
Raja: Let him study. Let's you and me go.
Conversation 5
Jim: Which restaurant are we going to?
Raja: Udupi Hotel.
Jim: Is it a good restaurant?
Raja: Yes. Tiffin there will be very good.
(The two of them go into the restaurant.)
Raja: Are you having dosai? Or itli?
Jim: What are you going to eat?
Raja: I'm going to have puri.
Jim: I'll have puri too.
(Raja calls the waiter [“server”].)
Waiter: What would you like, sir?
Raja: Bring one puri for each of us. (“Bring one puri to a person.”)
Waiter: Here you are. What else do you want?
Raja: Two coffees. How much does it come to? (“How much does the total become?”)
Waiter: Seventy rupees. Here's the bill.
Conversation 6
Raja: Shall we go to a movie?
Jim: I want to see a Tamil picture, too. Come on, we'll go.
Raja: A good picture is showing at the Diamond Theater. We'll go there.
Jim: How far is it?
Raja: Probably a mile. (“It will be a mile.”)
Jim: Is it the best theater in Madurai? (Is it the big theater in [all of] Madurai?”)
Raja: Yes. IT is, in fact, the biggest theater in Madurai. (“It is the big theater in [all of] Madurai.”)
Jim: Do you see movies often? (“Will you see movies often?”)
Raja: I see one a week.
Jim: Are Tamil movies generally good? (“Will Tamil cinema be good?”)
Raja: You see one today. Then you say afterwards.
Jim: How much is a ticket?
Raja: There are four or five classes of seats here. Let's go for a sixty rupee ticket.
Conversation 7
Raja: Are you liking this picture?
Jim: I'm enjoying it a lot. Are you?
Raja: I am, too. How's the story?
Jim: I don't know Tamil well. So I'm not understanding the story that well.
Raja: With a little more time you'll understand Tamil well. You'll also understand Tamil picture then.
Jim: I think so, too.
Raja: Come let's have another cup of coffee.
(The two of them go into a restaurant. There they sit down on chair).
Jim: I don't want coffee. Tell them to bring me milk.
Raja: All right. Will you have a dosai?
Jim: No. Milk's enough for me.
Conversation 8
Jim: I have to go home. How can I get there?
Raja: Where do you live?
Jim: I'm in Goripalayam.
Raja: There are lots of buses to go there. The No. 1 bus comes often. You could go in that.
Jim: Where does that bus stop?
Raja: Stand at Mangamma Resthouse. A bus comes there every five minutes. (“One bus comes there per five minutes.”)
Jim: How far is that? (“At hoe much distance is it?”)
Raja: It's only very nearby. See there, you can see it --- that's Mangamma Resthouse.
Jim: Oh yes! Is it this close? Very good.
Raja: Have you got money?
Jim: I've got twenty rupees. Is that enough?
Raja: Oh yes! It's actually more than enough. To go to Goripalayam ten rupees would be enough.
Jim: Okay. Goodbye.
Raja: Goodbye. See you tomorrow. (“We'll see [each other] tomorrow.”)
Conversation 9
Raja: Come in. You haven't come around for a long time. Why?
Jim: I haven't been in town for ten days. That's why I haven't been able to come.
Raja: Is college not in session for you now?
Jim: Yes, you're right. We have Christmas vacation from the twentieth to the second.
Raja: Do you get Christmas presents from your father?
Jim: Yes. Every year he sends a present.
Raja: What sort of present does he send?
Jim: Mostly he sends books.
Raja: How long does it take for them to come here from America?
Jim: It takes two weeks by plane. Five days by courier.
Raja: He can't come here; you can't go there. So one has to send things in the mail.
Jim: Didn't you go out anywhere during Christmas vacation?
Raja: No. For a week here there's been heavy rain. I wasn't able to go out.
Jim: In our country it snows at Christmas time. Here it's raining!
Raja: My younger brother is calling me from inside the house. Wait a minute.
Jim: I've got some work, too. I'll see you tomorrow.
Conversation 10
Raja: I'm going to the store. Would you like to come along, too?
Jim: What are you going to buy?
Raja: I'm going to buy some clothes (“I'm going to buy cloth.”)
Jim: New clothes? What's the special occasion?
Raja: Pongal is coming on the 14th of this month, isn't it? I've got to get clothes for the kids for that.
Jim: You're not buying some for yourself?
Raja: For me, too, of course. I've got to get a sari for my wife as well.
Jim: I've also wanted to buy a sari for a long time. (“[There is] to me, too, for many days a desire that [I] must buy a sari.”) Come on, we'll go. With your help I'll buy a nice sari.
Raja: What's a sari for you for? Are you going to wear it? (“tie it [on]”)
Jim: Good grief! How could I wear a sari? It's women that wear them, isn't it?
Raja: Then why are you going to buy a sari?
Jim: I'm going to send it to my little sister in America. She is very fond of your country's saris. (“To her if [it is] your town's sari it is very much liked.”)
Raja: Is that so? Okay, come on. We'll buy a nice sari.
Jim: Which store are we going to?
Raja: There are lots of cloth stores on the east side of the temple. We'll go around the temple and go there.
Conversation 11
Raja: Come, we'll go to this shop. You can get nice saris here. Prices are generally cheap as well.
Jim: All right. I don't know a thing about saris. I don't know anything about Indian stores either.
Raja: Do you want a silk sari or a cotton sari?
Jim: I want a Kanchipuram silk sari.
Shopkeeper: Come in, sir! What would you like? Will you look at some silk saris? We've got real nice ones.
Raja: Jim, what color sari do you want?
Jim: The saris of all these colors are indeed beautiful. Which one do you like?
Raja (to the shopkeeper): Are there other saris? Show them to us and we'll take a look.
Shopkeeper: I'll show you some good ones. Look at this one: it has black border, going well with its rose color.
Raja: How much is this? (“This is what price?”)
Shopkeeper: Four thousand rupees.
Raja: That's much too much! (“The price is very excessive!”)
Shopkeeper: No, sir! Look at the sari. It's very heavy. This is quality gold embroidery, sir.
Raja: This gentleman is going to send this to America. Will you give it to us for 3500 rupees?
Shopkeeper: You are asking for a price much reduced. Give me 200 rupees less.
Raja: We can't give more than Rs. 3500. What do you say?
Shopkeeper: All right.
Conversation 12
Raja: We've got a lot of stuff. We can't walk with it as far as the house.
Jim: Shall we go in a bus?
Raja: Buses don't come by way of this street. Shall we go by auto-rickshaw or taxi?
Jim: Shall we go in a taxi?
Raja: We won’t get taxis here. We will go by an auto-rickshaw.
Jim: Can we get an auto-rickshaw here?
Raja: See there, look, some auto-rickshaws are standing at that corner.
Jim: Yes. I didn't see them at all until now. Cars are coming in a line one after another! How can we go across?
Raja: There's a red light showing now at the intersection. So cars won't be coming this way. Come on, we'll go.
Jim: I'm not afraid now.
Raja: You come along behind. If you're a white man, he'll ask too much cart fare.
Jim: Okay.
Raja: Driver, I have to go to West Masi St. How much are you asking?
Auto-driver: Give me sixty rupees, sir.
Raja: Hey, man, be reasonable. (“Ask calmly.”) I'm a local man. I'm not from out of town.
Auto-driver: Gas is selling very expensively (the price of gas is high), sir. It won't be possible for less than sixty rupees, sir.
Raja: Will you come for fifty rupees? That's as much as I always give.
Auto-driver: Give me at least 58 rupees, sir.
Raja: For your sake I'll give 55 rupees.
Auto-driver: All right sir, as you wish.
Raja: Jim, get in the cart. It's late. (“It's become time.”)
Conversation 13
Raja: Are you going to your house in this same cart?
Jim: All right. I sort of feel like going a little further in the auto-rikshaw.
Raja: The bus comes at this stop (place) once in half an hour.
Jim: That's all right. There aren't any auto-rickshaws like this in our country. So I really like to ride in them.
Raja (he laughs): Our country doesn’t have taxis in all locations (places) like in your country. They cost more also.
Jim: It is not cold in Madurai. So you don’t need taxis.
Raja: It is true. But there is lot of emission (smoke) from auto-rickshaws. The air is not clean; so people get sick (disease).
Jim: It happens from cars in our country. Is there any country with clean air? Name one and we'll see.
Raja: In India also, there are more cars than before. There is smoke from (burning) petrol and diesel everywhere. One cannot walk inside the town.
Jim: This is a sign of progress of a country.
Raja: Yes. India is progressing, is it not?
Auto-driver: Sir, it's getting late for me. (“It's becoming time for me.”) Please give me the money. (“Please give the small change [agreed upon].”) I have to go to a number of places. (“four places”)
Raja: Hey, man, what's the sudden hurry? (“Within [prior to] it [the appropriate time] what, man, is the hurry?”) This man is going to come in your vehicle as far as Goripalayam.
Jim: Goodbye. Tomorrow I want to speak to you about an important matter.
Raja: All right. Do come. We'll talk about it.
Conversation 14
Raja: What time did you arrive home yesterday?
Jim: It took me until eight o'clock to reach my house. (“To arrive at the house, it became eight o'clock.”)
Raja: Why did it take so much time?
Jim: The auto-driver didn’t wear the uniform (Khaki dress). On the way a policeman stopped us and told the driver to pay a fine. (“...blocked, stopped, and told to remit a fine.”)
Raja: Then?
Jim: The driver had no money. He begged the policeman to forgive him one time. The policeman didn’t let him go. Some time went by in this. Then, the auto-rikshaw wasn't able to climb up the bridge very fast.
Raja: Did you come in a bus now?
Jim: No. Evenings it's very crowded on the bus. It would take a lot of time to stand waiting for a bus, get a seat in one, and come. So I walked.
Raja: I came over to that side of town this morning on some business. I came to your room and looked for you. But you weren't around (“We don't see you.”)
Jim: Oh dear. I was in the next room this morning until ten o'clock. Was it some important matter?
Raja: Nothing. I just came to see you for no particular reason.
Jim: I've come over to ask you something. Absorbed in our conversation, forgot to ask it. (“In our talk's interestingness, ...”)
Raja: What does it matter? Why don't you ask now?
Conversation 15
Jim: You told me about the temple, remember? Well, having heard all that I went last week to see the temple. But they didn't let me inside. Why?
Raja: Aside from Hindus, others are not allowed to go into the temple.
Jim: Not allowed to enter the temple at all?
Raja: One can go a little ways into the temple. Did you go in and see?
Jim: No. I felt hesitant. Didn't they open temples to everybody even before Independence?
Raja: They opened them to everybody only among Hindus.
Jim: Foreigners like me are very eager to see your temples and sculptures.
Raja: And I have tries speaking to the temple authorities about this. But they didn't give in.
Jim: This is very disappointing for us. This is what I came to ask about.
Rani: Here, I've made some snacks. Tell your friend to have some.
Raja: Put them on a plate and bring them here. Bring some water along with them also. Our snacks are likely to be very spicy hot for him.
Rani: These are sweets. Here.
Raja: Jim, try these. Do you like them, perhaps, I wonder?
Jim: This is very good. Can you get this in stores?
Raja: It's not available in all stores. Don't worry. Next time I'll give you some.
Jim: Very good.
Conversation 16
Jim: Why are you in bed? (“What you are lying down?”) Are you not well? (“Is the body not well?”)
Raja: There's nothing wrong with me. (“There's nothing to my body.”) This morning I went to Tirupparankunram. (“In the morning I went and was [at] Tirupparankunram.”) I returned just now, just a little while ago. So I'm a little tired.
Jim: What's the special occasion over there?
Raja: Today is Karttikai, isn't it? It's a very special day for Murugan. I went to worship Lord Murugan there. Have you been there?
Jim: I've gone there once. I've tried climbing to the top of the hill. Did you climb the hill today?
Raja: I'm too old. (“Age has become to me.”) I can't. I wasn't even able to stand in the line for the bus.
Jim: Don't they dispatch plenty of special buses on this occasion?
Raja: They had dispatched plenty of special buses, but even them the crowd did not decrease.
Jim: How long were you waiting for the bus?
Raja: I must have been waiting about an hour. Even though I waited that long I didn't get a place to sit down on the bus.
Jim: What a pity! You certainly have had a lot of trouble.
Raja: That's not all. It was packed inside the temple, too. There was no room to get inside at all. Somehow or other I crushed and jostled my way inside.
Jim: It's lucky I didn't come with you.
Raja: Yes. In that crowd you would have fainted and fallen. Moreover, they wouldn't have let you inside.
Jim: You lie down. We'll be seeing each other often! We'll talk at leisure tomorrow.
Conversation 17
Raja: Come in, come in. You've come at a good time. That sweet you liked that day, remember? Well, we've made it today, too. Here, Take some.
Jim: Is today anything special?
Raja: Yes. Today is the birth of a new year for us. Me have separate months and years and so on. You know that, don't you?
Jim: Oh yes. I know it well. Bu I don't know it in detail. You have twelve months to a year, right?
Raja: Yes. What's the doubt about that? But every month doesn't have exactly thirty days. Some months have twenty-eight days and some months have thirty-two days.
Jim: What months have thirty-two days?
Raja: It's not calculated like that. It changes year by year.
Jim: This morning I was going along near the fields. At the time some people were picking neem flowers. What is that for?
Raja: This is when the neem tree flowers. On New Year's day in some homes they make neem flower paccadi. They also make a sweet paccadi along with it. There is both the sweet and the bitter in life, isn't it there?
Jim: That's very true. Is there anything else special on New Year's day?
Raja: We put on new clothes that day, Some people give their homes a fresh whitewash. After having worshipped God, we all sit together in the house at midday and eat. We don't eat meat at all that day, In the evening we prepare snacks. In our festivals it's food that's important!
Jim: I've learned many things today about your New Year's. I want to learn some more about it, but I'll ask about it another day.
Conversation 18
Jim: Yesterday morning I was on my room reading when a marriage procession went by along the street. In this one week I saw five or six processions like this. Is there some reason for this?
Raja: Yes, there is. In our country marriages don't take place in all the months. Only some months are good months. Chittrai is one of them. It is only in this type of month that auspicious affairs like marriage take place.
Jim: Is Chittrai the only month in the whole year that's a good month?
Raja: No. There are other good months, too. Ani, Avaṇi, Aippasi, Tai...all these are good months.
Jim: In the same way, are there good days?
Raja: Yes. In each month just a few days are good says. And on those days it is only at an auspicious time that a marriage takes place.
Jim: I have read about this in books before. But only now I am seeing this directly.
Raja: It's very difficult to walk in a procession in this sun. Are you managing to stand this sun?
Jim: It's hard, all right. But inside the house it's not so bad.
Raja: Buy yourself a dhoti. It will be comfortable in the hot season.
Jim: I've bought two dhotis. That's what I wear in the house. I'm afraid to walk outside wearing one.
Raja: what's to be afraid of?
Jim: One day I tried walking a short distance wearing a dhoti. It slipped off and fell down.
Raja: It's no doubt difficult at first. Later on everything will turn out all right.
Jim: That's what I think, too. By that time I'll also get used to the sun. Next year I won't have this much trouble.
Conversation 19
Jim: It looks like you are setting out to go somewhere. Are you going out of town?
Raja: No. I’m on my way to a wedding right here in town. Would you like to come, too?
Jim: May one come without an invitation?
Raja: Oh yes, you can feel free to come. (“you may come freely.”) No one will say anything.
Jim: Whose wedding is it?
Raja: Mu wife's aunt's son's. So I'm obliged to go.
Jim: Is the girl from this town?
Raja: Yes. It's in the girl's house that the wedding takes place.
Jim: Isn't your wife coming?
Raja: She went over yesterday, in fact. We'll go first to the bridegroom's house, then go from there to the bride's house with the procession.
Jim: Where is the groom's house?
Raja: See, we've arrived. The morning meal is being served. Come on. We'll eat, too.
Jim: I ate at home. You eat and then come. I'll be sitting here.
Raja: One shouldn't leave without eating at the wedding house. Eat just two itlis an then get up from the meal.
Jim: Al, right. Why spoil your wishes?
Raja: I'm full. (“[My] eating has become [accomplished] such that the stomach is filled.”) Will you have some betel?
Jim: I'm not accustomed to it. You have some. I'll watch.
Raja: Oh. The procession has started out. Come one. We'll join it, too.
Jim: Are we going straight to the bride's house now?
Raja: Yes.
Jim: What all will happen there?
Raja: I'll tell you everything in detail. Come. We'll talk as we walk.
Conversation 20
Jim: Is there any doctor known to you nearby?
Raja: Why? What's the matter?
Jim: My stomach has been aching slightly since yesterday,
Raja: As a result of your eating the wedding meal?
Jim: The food was hot, wasn't it? It's probably due to that. Hot food still doesn't agree with me.
Raja: There is a doctor who has been very good to me and I can rely on. (“a doctor who is very needed to me.”) He was educated in America. (“He is [a person] who studied in America.”) Come. We'll go to him.
Jim: Is he near by?
Raja: Yes. His clinic is right around the corner from here. (“AS soon as this street turns is his hospital.”) We'll just walk.
Doctor: Come in, Raja. It's been a long time since I've seen you. How are you? (“Are you well?”)
Raja: I'm surviving, doctor. (“I'm something or other.”) This is my friend Jim. He has come here from America. He is not well. (“To him body is not alright.”)
Doctor: What's wrong? (“What is it doing?”)
Jim: My stomach has been aching since yesterday. I tried taking some stomach-ache medicine that is sold in the store. But it didn't work.
Doctor: Taking medicine at will without asking a doctor is not good. (“Buying and taking any medicine that on sees without asking a doctor is not a good thing.”) How long has it been since you came here?
Jim: It's going to be a year.
Doctor: Did you eat anything new yesterday?
Jim: I ate some hot things at a wedding.
Doctor: Oh yes, that's what it is. I'll give you a prescription for a medicine. (“I'll write and give a medicine.”) Get some and take it. You'll be all right in just one day.
Jim: How much is it the charge for this, Doctor?
Doctor: Oh, don't worry about that. (“there's [no need] for concern”) I'm not giving you the medicine! Moreover, since Raja brought you along, I wouldn't take anything.
Raja: All right Doctor. Goodbye.
Conversation 21
Raja: How is your stomach ache now?
Jim: It got better as soon as I took the medicine the doctor prescribed.
Raja: It's good that we went to the doctor. (“Our going to the doctor has gone good.”) The medicine he prescribes always works well.
Jim: Some people. Due to their experience, are clever at prescribing medicine, having understood the problem well as soon as one tells them about the illness.
Raja: Since you are feeling fine now. There wouldn't be any difficulty in going out of town. Would there?
Jim: No, there wouldn't. (“Yes, there wouldn't].”) What's up?
Raja: Have you ever gone to Māriyamman Pongal festival?
Jim: I have never have. But I've had a desire to go for a long time.
Raja: Pongal is going on now in our village. I'm leaving this evening. (“Today evening I am setting out and going.”) Will you come too?
Jim: I certainly would like to come. But what's to be done about a place fro me to stay? (“But for my staying there what to do?”)
Raja: Don't' worry with regard to that. There's an old house of ours there. We can stay there.
Jim: That settles things very nicely. (“[the situation] has gone very good.”) What I have been thinking about for a long now is only now going to be possible.
Raja: There's only one problem in that house, There is no private place there for bathing. It will be necessary to bathe standing at the base of the well in the garden.
Jim: That doesn't matter. (“What [problem] is due to that?”)
Raja: If that's the case, come here at four o'clock sharp. From here we'll go together to the place the bus leaves from, and from there we'll go to our village. On the bus I'll tell you at length about Pongal.
Jim: I'm pleasantly excited right now just hearing about it. I definitely will come at four o'clock.
Conversation 22
Raja: What's this! All day yesterday you were not to be seen. (“Yesterday completely we do not see the person at all.”)
Jim: Since I didn't sleep properly for two days during Pongal, all yesterday I was very, very sleepy. I slept the whole day.
Raja: It was the same with me, too. Having lain down at ten o'clock after eating breakfast yesterday, I got up only at six o'clock in the evening. (“A person who ate yesterday morning and then lay down at then o'clock [i.e. I] arose only at six o'clock in the evening.”) I didn't even have lunch. (“I didn't even eat at noon.”)
Jim: Being awake until dawn day before yesterday did not go to waste. The walking on fire with bare feet is still amazing to me. Is there, perhaps, some kind of fraud in it, I wonder?
Raja: No. Faith is the explanation for it. Fasting twice a day for a month before fire-walking may also be a factor. (“Being without eating two times from before a month to fire-walking, too, may be a reason for this.”) Another reason may be their running fast without pressing their feet down hard.
Jim: One woman went through it walking slowly, though.
Raja: Yes, I've seen once a person scooping up embers and pouring them on his head. I also know of some people getting their feet badly hurt. (“I know, too, feet going wounded to a few people in this.”)
Jim: Then all this is possible because of doing it placing faith on God, right?
Raja: Not necessarily. (“It's not for saying that.”) Even those who don't believe in God have gone into the fire pit holding black flags. They have a different faith. A faith is necessary in life for man. If he has faith, he'll do anything.
Jim: True.
Conversation 23
Raja: You are certainly in a good mood today, aren't you?
Jim: A letter came from home. That's why.
Raja: Are your mother and father well? What have they written?
Jim: I had written to my father about going to the Pongal festival and what we saw there. He, too, is amazed at ti. (“seeing it, to him also [is] total astonishment.”)
Raja: If he saw it face to face, he would be still more impressed.
Jim: I had sent him the pictures I took. So to certain extent it will have been like seeing things directly.
Raja: Nevertheless (“whatever it might be”) it wouldn't be like seeing things in person, right? Why don't you write telling him to come here once?
Jim: As if he'd ever come! (“Where is he going to come?”) If he came here, there would be no one there to see his work.
Raja: Yes. That's the way it is if one is in a responsible job. One can't leave it suddenly and come. What if he plans beforehand, takes leave, and comes?
Jim: I have been writing that, too, in every letter. There's no sign of his doing anything about it. (“[The situation] is not [to the effect] that he is moving.”)
Raja: When are you planning to return? (“You are [to the effect] that you return when?”)
Jim: It's likely that I'll have to go very soon. A year is almost over since I came, right?
Raja: It is no doubt difficult if you are to return in a year. Are you unable to stay more that a year even if you would like to?
Jim: If I want to stay more than a year, I have to get special permission from the place where I work there. If I were to be here, my work there would suffer. So even though I don't like the idea of going, I feel that going is the best thing.
Conversation 24
Raja: It looks like you have been busy making all your travel arrangements. One can tell just by looking at you. (“If one even looks at the person, it is visible.”) You've had to run around a lot, I suppose?
Jim: Not at all. I'm just depressed. Just thinking about leaving Tamil Nadu makes it hard for me emotionally. (“If I even think about leaving Tamil Nadu and going, it is difficult for my mind.”)
Raja: It's bound to be that way at first. But after you get there, everything will be all right after a while.
Jim: Can you be sure that things will turn out that easily? (“Will it go that much easily, what?”) For a while I'll be missing Tamil Nadu all the time. (“For some days it will be simply the thought of Tamil Nadu.”)
Raja: Have you bought the tickets and everything for going?
Jim: Not yet.
Raja: How do you plan to go? (“You have planned [to the effect] that you go how?”) By ship or by plane?
Jim: If I went by ship, the cost would be less. But it would take a very long time to get there. (“But for arriving the days would become very much.”) I f I go by plane, although it's expensive I can get there sooner. So I'm thinking that I might as well go by plane.
Raja: That's what strikes me as the right thing to do, too. Do you have a plan to stop over anywhere on the way?
Jim: No. It would take too many days if I were to get on and off in each place. Moreover, running around doesn't agree with me.
Raja: What can you do about it, though? If you want to see places, you have to suffer some.
Jim: That's trues. Nevertheless, why should I have time now is the way I look at it. If I don't see places now, what I can do is take care of seeing them some other time.
Raja: You must eat at our house one day before you leave for home, all right?
Jim: Oh yes. That's very all right! When it comes to your food, I love it! (“If your food, it has become life to me!”)
Raja: Will the Sunday after this Sunday be convenient?
Jim: Whatever day is all right. On Sunday I will come and stand here as prompt as the stroke of a clock.
Conversation 25
Raja: Come in, come in. We've been waiting for you to arrive. All the food was ready some time ago.
Jim: But I've come at the correct time!
Raja: I was just teasing! (“I said it for sport for no particular reason.”) May I tell them to serve the food?
Jim: As you wish. (“Your liking”) If we are to eat now then we'll eat now; otherwise, if we eat after a little while that's fine too. Everything is the same to me.
Raja: If that's the case there's no reason not to begin to eat. (“If it is so, it is indeed necessary to begin to eat”) Rani, pout out the leaves and serve the food. We will wash our hands and feet and come.
Jim: Today it really appears to be a big feast. All the preparations are certainly elaborate.
Raja: Eat and then say afterwards how it is.
Jim: when it comes to Rani's cooking, you don't have to ask. Everything is terrific. I don't have room in my stomach to eat as much as I would like to.
Raja (to Rani): See how fond he is of Tamil Nadu...but if you tell him to postpone his leaving, he refuses to listen. (“If Tamil Nadu, he likes it this much, right? Well, if one says 'be some days more and then go', he says ' I won't listen'”)
Rani: He needs to go home. Won't he be eager to see people? As if you would leave all this like this and go somewhere and stay for years.
Raja: Me? Go somewhere? I could never survive even a week without itli and dosai.
Ilango: I would, father. May I go with Uncle Jim to America, father?
Raja: After you study and grow up, you go on your own.
Ilango: Okay, father, I'll study hard right from this moment.
Raja: Jim, as soon as you finish eating, will you listen to some stories that the teacher taught him at school? He tells them beautifully.
Jim: Oh yes. Don't I know that Ilango is a clever boy. You must tell me the stories you know, what do you say?
Ilango: Oh yes. I'll tell you all that I know.