Two Wrongs Make a Right, Polaamba Right

We're at it.. hammer and tongs.

The first British soldier who set foot in Chennai, was an american who had migrated to Britain, and had joined the army. The first Indian that he laid eyes on was Mr. Vannarapaettai Kandsaami, who was sauntering along Marina beach looking for crabs for tiffen. He addressed Mr. V.Kandsami with the historic first words, "waddup." Mr. Kandsaami who had just spotted a big juicy crab dashing across sideways in a great hurry (as he was late for his appointment to get his claws sharpened), mis-interpreted the historic first word as "Inna appu." (A customary greeting in tamil where Exhibit A refers to Exhibit B as "appu", to which Exhibit B invariably responds with "Va ba. Sor thuntiya"). Mr. Vanaarapaettai Kandsaami deduced the paleface was a friend and proceeded to ask him for money. The Brits gave him some barren land, instead, which was not theirs to begin with and permitted him to name it Vannarapaettai. And that was how Vannarapaettai came into existence. They celebrate Vannarapaettai Day by opening up a common kitchen where women with crabs cook lobsters for the strapping young fisherfolk.

Not many years later, after independence, we decided that we had not got our heart's fill of vengeance mainly because the British refused to surrender Elizabeth Hurley to the South Indian men. So, we decided to assault the english language.

We are at it ... hammer and tongs...