When my relative turned forty her husband presented her with a gold chain.
When he heard about it my husband quipped, ' naarpathu vayasile naai gunam'*so a chain is a very appropriate gift!'
* It is an idiom in Tamil meaning, At forty man's character resembles that of a dog, with barks and bites an everyday occurence.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
TLC for Teeth!
I was getting the breakfast ready and peeped out of the kitchen to see if the family was ready to have hot dosas as they don't eat cold ones.I saw my husband brushing his teeth and turned away saying,'Oh, you are brushing your teeth?'He spat out the foam and started saying something. I waited to hear what important info that couldn't wait till he finished brushing.He said,'No, I am just caressing them one by one!'
Sports Day at Antsville!
One day I was drawing the anti-ant chalk pesticide along the sides of the wall in the living room and said to my husband,
'I keep drawing these lines (Lakshman Rekha brand pesticide chalk stick) but the ants keep crossing them!'
My husband said,
'Maybe they think you are holding a hurdles race and drawn the lines for them to jump across!'
'I keep drawing these lines (Lakshman Rekha brand pesticide chalk stick) but the ants keep crossing them!'
My husband said,
'Maybe they think you are holding a hurdles race and drawn the lines for them to jump across!'
From the mouth of babes....
My daughters have picked up/inherited sarcastic wit from their father. As a result they would reply to some of my questions in a roundabout way which simply wouldn't reach my brain and I would take them too literally for their comfort. Then they would be forced to translate the same into a straight statement which is maddening for them!
Once when my elder daughter was in elementary school I was packing her lunch. She asked me to pack some halwah (Sweet) brought by her uncle on his visit the previous day. I asked her, "Why?"
She replied, 'See you have packed Idlis for my lunch. If I mix it with the Halwah and make a paste of it for lunch it tastes divine!'
Taking her literally, I replied innocently, "Oh, I see. This is a new dish I have never tried out myself. Should try it sometime." And proceeded with packing some halwah.
My daughter stood there silently for a few minutes overcoming the dumb reaction to her sarcasm and then burst out to say, "Mummy, I just said that to tell you 'what a question, I just want the halwah as a snack for the rescess!"
I replied, "Then why didn't you just say so?"
By this time she had started laughing: "And please don't try out the 'new dish!' "
My co-sisters (other daughter-in-laws in my husband's fsamily-he has three more brothers besides his only sister-all of whom are masters in this art of sarcastic wit, thanks to the genes passed on by my late father-in-law!) would discuss this aspect of our daily exchanges in our families and we would have a hilarious time recollecting the happenings at each one of our homes which would have the same tone to them. Juxtaposed with a very literal mind, the sarcasm often fails to have the desired effect! This way we outsiders act as a buffer zone for their wit which would have otherwise become too sharp for comfort in their interaction with society at large. So we say to ourselves modestly, in defence of our being very slow on the uptake of their wit:-)
Once when my elder daughter was in elementary school I was packing her lunch. She asked me to pack some halwah (Sweet) brought by her uncle on his visit the previous day. I asked her, "Why?"
She replied, 'See you have packed Idlis for my lunch. If I mix it with the Halwah and make a paste of it for lunch it tastes divine!'
Taking her literally, I replied innocently, "Oh, I see. This is a new dish I have never tried out myself. Should try it sometime." And proceeded with packing some halwah.
My daughter stood there silently for a few minutes overcoming the dumb reaction to her sarcasm and then burst out to say, "Mummy, I just said that to tell you 'what a question, I just want the halwah as a snack for the rescess!"
I replied, "Then why didn't you just say so?"
By this time she had started laughing: "And please don't try out the 'new dish!' "
My co-sisters (other daughter-in-laws in my husband's fsamily-he has three more brothers besides his only sister-all of whom are masters in this art of sarcastic wit, thanks to the genes passed on by my late father-in-law!) would discuss this aspect of our daily exchanges in our families and we would have a hilarious time recollecting the happenings at each one of our homes which would have the same tone to them. Juxtaposed with a very literal mind, the sarcasm often fails to have the desired effect! This way we outsiders act as a buffer zone for their wit which would have otherwise become too sharp for comfort in their interaction with society at large. So we say to ourselves modestly, in defence of our being very slow on the uptake of their wit:-)
Armour against sarcasm!
The tendency to express anything sarcastically sometimes backfires. To understand any clever remark that has a figurative meaning you need an audience that has a modicum of intelligence. Which is unfortunately missing in a section of the population at least. This has led to many a hilarious situation in our daily lives among the general public apart from the setting of our family.Once we were travelling to Kumbakonam via Chidambaram, the temple town. We had stopped at a small hotel in the town to have our lunch. The waiter spread out washed banana leaves which serve as disposable plates in South India. He then kept stainless steel glasses for water to drink, before everyone seated. Unfortunately he had skipped my husband's place and gone back to bring the water jug. He then proceeded to pour water into each tumbler.When he came to my husband's place, my husband asked him "Where is my water?"The waiter blinked to see that there was no glass in his place and being the dumb person he was,said:"Where should I pour the water?"My husband replied angrily,"Pour it on my head!"Whereupon this man actually started to tilt the jug above my husband's head and I stopped him just in time saying,"He is angry and so he said like that! Don't you realize that? Just bring a glass and serve the water!"The man muttered something about why we should not have said so in the first place and went inside to do that.The minute he turned his back, I promptly burst out laughing thinking of what might have happened, had I not stopped the waiter. My husband also thought of the same thing and seeing me laughing joined us grinning.Lesson learnt: You should use your sarcasm only where it would pierce the brain and prick, not where it hardly makes a dent-for dumbness makes a mighty armour against sarcasm!
Humour at Home
My husband has a great sense of humour. In fact all his siblings share this trait. As a result all our family gatherings are a riot of jokes and funny anecdotes and every few minutes there would be a burst of laughter! I am very fortunate to be married into his family, considering how acutely we lack the art of repartee in my side of the family! My daughters have taken after him and the funny retorts continue to this day at home:-)
My father-in-law was the original quick repartee champion and all his children have taken after him. In this context, it is relevant to remember that my mother-in-law and myself are a bit slow to catch on to the sarcasm involved in these exchanges. In fact all the daughters in law sadly lack this trait and wake up to their sarcasm rather late! It makes it all the more easier for the 'Mandhis' -(monkeys)-(as my husband's family has been nicknamed, in revenge, by all the daughters -in law, after their family name of 'Mandhikanakkans' in the days of yore-which suits them very well when you consider their antics!) to tease us 'outsiders' non-stop in any family gatherings as we slowly fumble through their quick comments!
Ours was an arranged marriage like most of the marriages in our country. We had hardly looked at each other before the wedding day and any talking before the wedding day was unthinkable thirty years back! The very first time I started a conversation with my husband was the day of our marriage when we travelled by car (from my home town where our wedding had taken place in the early morning) to his place where a reception was being held.
On the way we stopped for some refreshments and we bought tender cucumbers to eat along with a drink of tender coconut water. The roadside stall had both and the man started cutting the top off the cocnut when my new husband noticed that I was still nibbling at the cucumbers. He asked me, "Oh you still haven't finished eating the cucumbers?"
I replied:
'My granny has told me that you would live to be a hundred years if you chew your food well"
For which my hasband replied:
"It is better to live a fifty years eating fast and enjoying the rest of the time instead of spending the additional fifty years in the act of eating!"
I burst into laughter. With this, the ice was broken and he started asking me whether I knew anything about his workplace in the north-which was the city of Pune. I was still in college then and remembered a geographical fact about the city.
"I know that it is in the rain-shadow region of Maharashtra and that it gets less rainfall than the city of Mumbai which is but a hundred kilometres from there". Then, to make conversation I asked, "Is it true you get less rain?"
My husband stared at me a moment and then exclaimed, "Of course, we don't get much rains there. In fact it is almost a desert and we have to ride camels to go anywhere in the city as otherwise commuting is very difficult. In fact I rode on a camel to reach the railway station....." when I realized slowly that he was pulling my leg!
And so I got initiated into his clan's brand of humour!
My father-in-law was the original quick repartee champion and all his children have taken after him. In this context, it is relevant to remember that my mother-in-law and myself are a bit slow to catch on to the sarcasm involved in these exchanges. In fact all the daughters in law sadly lack this trait and wake up to their sarcasm rather late! It makes it all the more easier for the 'Mandhis' -(monkeys)-(as my husband's family has been nicknamed, in revenge, by all the daughters -in law, after their family name of 'Mandhikanakkans' in the days of yore-which suits them very well when you consider their antics!) to tease us 'outsiders' non-stop in any family gatherings as we slowly fumble through their quick comments!
Ours was an arranged marriage like most of the marriages in our country. We had hardly looked at each other before the wedding day and any talking before the wedding day was unthinkable thirty years back! The very first time I started a conversation with my husband was the day of our marriage when we travelled by car (from my home town where our wedding had taken place in the early morning) to his place where a reception was being held.
On the way we stopped for some refreshments and we bought tender cucumbers to eat along with a drink of tender coconut water. The roadside stall had both and the man started cutting the top off the cocnut when my new husband noticed that I was still nibbling at the cucumbers. He asked me, "Oh you still haven't finished eating the cucumbers?"
I replied:
'My granny has told me that you would live to be a hundred years if you chew your food well"
For which my hasband replied:
"It is better to live a fifty years eating fast and enjoying the rest of the time instead of spending the additional fifty years in the act of eating!"
I burst into laughter. With this, the ice was broken and he started asking me whether I knew anything about his workplace in the north-which was the city of Pune. I was still in college then and remembered a geographical fact about the city.
"I know that it is in the rain-shadow region of Maharashtra and that it gets less rainfall than the city of Mumbai which is but a hundred kilometres from there". Then, to make conversation I asked, "Is it true you get less rain?"
My husband stared at me a moment and then exclaimed, "Of course, we don't get much rains there. In fact it is almost a desert and we have to ride camels to go anywhere in the city as otherwise commuting is very difficult. In fact I rode on a camel to reach the railway station....." when I realized slowly that he was pulling my leg!
And so I got initiated into his clan's brand of humour!
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