Yes, I've written about this before. No, the content is not the same.
NPS Indiranagar. The place of study for some of Bangalore's brains like NV (CBSE 98.2% - what more can I say?), Mukund Kaimal (IIT rank 150 w/o much effort - genius), Anoosh (similar story - only with a 'bad' rank of 360!) etc. You get the picture don't you? NPSi can also start its own 'Sloggers Inc.' without too much hassle. With the kind of people around, they wouldn't have any problem whatsoever recruiting top-notch company representatives. As an outsider, I was all at sea. Apart from the astoundingly high concentration of brains - although profoundly lacking in other departments - what I found really different was the varied, twisted use of language there. There were certain phrases that proved that you were pedigree NPSi material. Let me list them out for the benefit of those going - "See, I told you so. Gulati's definitely off his rocker."
1) Aaaaasaaaaa: Not me leaning on the keyboard in a near trance condition, this is perhaps the most widely used NPSi-ism. What can it possibly mean? An expression of pain? A joyful rendition of the plagiarized school song? A statement that enables the speaker to truly join the environment of the school? Bala's favourite expression with an added 's'? Not exactly. It is more of an expression along the likes of: Oh, really? Tell me something new. It's used as follows:
Person 1: The world is round, what a marvel!
Person2: (Instead of "tell me something new") Aaaaaasaaaa....
2) Biting: This one has much more sensible roots. The guys who came up with this were probably inspired by the traditional British saying: "He's barking mad". Only it's been modified first to "biting mad" and then simply "biting". Usage:
Person 1: I'm going to sleep at ten tonight, not studying anything.
Person2 to Person3 behind Person 1's back: Heard him, he's biting.
3) Laapet: OK. I don't think this one could have come from the english language in any form. Could be some regional language behind it. Not too sure on that one. What I do know is that this expression is never used without the hand clenched in a fist except for the little finger extended outwards and the thumb straight upwards. Sort of like an 'L'. There, not too hard is it? The meaning is quite simple as well:
Person 1: I'm the best. I top the class without studying at all.
Person 2: Laapet. You don't fool me...
Well, that's about it. My two years at NPSi were immensely enjoyable and certainly colourful (to say the least!), not helped in a small part by these fabulous examples of free speech. I don't remember much more, but I would definitely welcome more examples.
temple by the sea
17 years ago
