It is funny listening to the commentary team for the second ODI – one Englishman (Collingwood, I presume) and one Indian (Gavaskar). First Collingwood complains that names in the subcontinent are difficult to pronounce and gives Jayasuriya as an example (pronounces it जेसूरिया or something, and then complains how easily the subcontinenters roll it off their tongues).
Then, Collingwood asks Gavaskar teach him to pronounce his own name, and the latter obliges with “सुनील गावस्कर”; fifteen minutes after the lesson, Collingwood is back to his true form, pronouncing the first syllable in Gavaskar’s first name as “Sun” and the latter syllable as “Nill”, ends up with सन्निल गवस्खार. Kind of makes sense, when you realize how folks in India spell the words (as they are pronounced) – for example, “lekar” is pronounced by Indians just like a Westerner would pronounce “Laker” (which is what I was wondering driving to work this morning, and listening to this song).
And though Gavaskar, for his part, tries hard (example ठेन for “ten”), he cannot maintain it through thick (थिक्ख) and thin (थिन)!
