“This man always surprises me” Lulu, my parrot said. I was reading Times of India and Lulu was also reading it sitting on my shoulder.

“Who is that, Lulu?” I asked.

“Aamir Khan! He is learning Marathi” Lulu replied. “I can understand if he decides to learn French, German or Spanish. But Marathi? That beats me completely.” Lulu said rubbing his beak on my collar.

“French is taught in every school and students prefer to study it instead of Sanskrit. I am told that German is also taught in many schools now. I have seen several young pesons attending German language classes.” I said.

“That is not the point at issue” Lulu used the lawyer’s language with a condescending look that judges give to all in the court. “He too must have studied French in school, but why has he chosen to learn marathi and that too at this age?”

“We will never know what fad catches these actors. But if there is a wave of learning Marathi it will do some good to this city of Mumbai where no maharashtrian speaks Marathi without a sprinkle of three english words in each sentence.” I replied.

“How long will it take for him to learn Marathi?” Lulu wondered fluttering his wings.

“Oh, don’t take this news seriously. The same news report says that he is missing his classes because of his travel. It also says that his tutor is teaching him beginning with basics. So it will take a long time.”

“Will he be ready by the time elections are held?” Lulu wondered.

“Never thought of that, he can charge a fat appearence fee for political parties and give a speech in Marathi. Why are you worried?” I asked.

“Just a loud thinking….tut, tut, tut….Is Kiran Rao a Marathi girl?”

“Don’t ask me such questions. What has it got to do with his learning Marathi?”

“Do you know the best way to learn Marathi? I hope somebody tells this to Aamir.”

“What’s that?”

“Marry a Maharashtrian girl! Any person will learn it quickly then! If Kiran Rao were a Maharashtrian girl, Aamir would have saved his tution fees.” Lulu said laughing.

Vivek