Ashwini is into rhyming words these days. She calls herself shwinee-beenie. Her teachers are Sara-bara and Rachel-bachel. Her friends are holly-Molly,  Cameron-bameron etc. She calls V, Aai-bai, which sounds very nice and appropriate. In Marathi, ‘bai’ is added to a woman’s name as a sign of respect. During my recent trip to India, I met a few college-mates. I was talking with one Marathi-speaking friends and we were refering to our lady professors as ‘this-bai’ or ‘that-bai’. Other friends who now teach there, were upset at us for referring to our teachers as ‘bai’. Lately, Hindi movies and Hindi TV serials have bastardised the meaning of that word by using it exclusively in reference to a housemaid. It just annoys me to no end.