The garlic bread44
Yesterday I went to a Greek deli and asked for garlic bread.The man asked, “Where do you come from?”
I said, “From India.”
He said, “That’s why you speak like that.”
Then I asked him, “Where do you come from?”
He said, “From Greece.”
So I said, “We are brothers, we are brothers!”
He was finding fault with my pronunciation of ‘garlic.’ But he himself was speaking broken English.
When I first came to America, I used to feel a little sad when people could not understand me. But now I don’t have to repeat words like ‘magnificent’ and ‘table’ because people understand me. Americans may criticise me, but the British — even children — don’t have any problem understanding me.
In Scotland I find it very difficult to understand the people. Three or four times I have to ask them what they are saying. It is too much, too much!
LS 135. 2 November 1986↩