I was travelling in a bus from the railway station to my college.
The following is the conversation I had with the lady sitting beside me:

LADY : endha college (which college?)

ME : (trying not to sound too proud)NIT

LADY :???

ME : (correcting myself)REC

LADY :oh! endha ooru?Kerala va? (which place are you from?Kerala?)

Anki : (snigger,snigger ,snigger)

ME : (fuming and thinking) everyone knows our college is filled with mallus and more mallus and more mallus...

ME : (telling her)illa ... chennai (No... chennai)

The lady first looks at me as though I am a mentally retarded person.Then her expression changes to pity and she asks

LADY : en ma chennai-la evalo nalla college-lam irruku ... Sathyabama , Jeppiar college ... edhuluyame seat kadaikalaiya? ( There are so many good colleges in chennai like sathayabama,jeppiar college etc. Didn't you get admission in any of them?)

ME : (no words coming out of my mouth)um... um ... um

Anki: (by now red with laughter snigger,snigger,more snigger)

LADY : (unmindful of the laughter and discomfort continues proudly) en ponnu sathyabama college-la padikara (My daughter studies in sathyabama college)

ME :(fervently praying the bus reaches my college soon)oh appadiya! (Oh ! Is that so?)

As soon I caught the first glimpse of the college from the bus, I rushed from my seat to the door ... not because I was eager to get back but because I'd been embarrased enough for the day.

PS 1: You might be wondering why I've written the conversation in Tamil and then translated it... well as HT says : things sound more embarrasing in tamil ...(HT : tamil-la sonna dhan oru punch irrukum)

PS 2 : ....

PS 3 : nothing ... I love PS3