Thursday, April 4, 2013

The husband is known for his sense of humour. He is known for the gift of the gab. He is also known for playing pranks and for pulling a fast one.. convincingly at that.

Ganesh Chaturthi at the K's is a huge affair. The clan gets together at our home in Udupi. Atleast 50 of us. The pooja is a long drawn one. Worse is having to wait for the priest to arrive. It can be a long wait of 3 or 4 hours. And at such times we get to attack the painstakingly prepared delicacies as late as 5.pm.

On one such occasion the husband saw the "thakela " public, and walked in with a paper and pencil. "Chalo, chalo, I am taking an order for cold drinks. Preferences batao fataafat" . The room suddenly started buzzing. The boredom vanished and the motley gang of uncles , aunts, cousins were calling out, "a pepsi fr me, a Mirinda.... a fresh lime soda, ... goti soda... etc etc etc. The husband patiently took down everything and went away.

After abt an hr the husband was spotted attending to something else in the house. The khandaan pounced on him, " where are the soft drinks, u were to get." He replied, "I didnt tell u i am getthing them fr u, i just said i am taking down yr order" And stood there with a blissful smile on his face.

At family weddings, he helps to serve food. As the desserts are being served, he announces, " This kheer is divine, but the jalebis are better. Save some place in yr tummy and on yr plate for them. And the people wait !

Of course ther are no jalebis !

The husband stands in a corner, a blissful smile playing on his face

He was cornered ar my cousins weding. The first lot of guests were targetted such. The second lot got wind of this and plotted amongst themselves that they wouldn't get up till the jalebis were served. The husband got to know of this and quietly and quickly got the driver to buy some from a halwai in dadar. The cousins and guests were dumbstruck and sheepish when the jalebi made its way to their plates. The husband - yeah , you guessed right a blissful :-) ...........

Last month he had been to Bangalore, for a function in the family. One of our nieces is married to a Tamilian. And the grand niece - all of 3 is a smart young lady. She is comfortable speaking both the languages Tamil and Konkani. Better still , she converses in Tamil with the father and relatives on his side and in Konkani with my niece and all of us. That day, there was a pooja and the kid was hungry and cranky. They couldnt serve food till the naivedya was done. To distract her the husband said " dont cry, wait a while. I have ordered Pongal, Avial and vetta kozambu, it will all come here in a sort time. All these dishes , they take a while to make and send over you know. The little girl agrees and the other folks were relieved and yet gave him knowing glances - yeh nahi sudhrega! The husband too thought that the kid would forget. She did too. And after a while enjoyed the lunch that was served. The sambar, avial and pongal weren't on the menu of course.

The next morning I got a call fr my niece. " where is V maama . Last night the daughter woke up crying at 12 in the midnught and wanted me to take her to the pooja venue. To eat the avial and pongal. I told her i wil make it for her tomorrow,But she wasnt pacified. " " why do you have to make it,, it has all been ordered and it wil have arrived by now " wailed the 3 yr old. The husband got disapproving looks frm all of us.

On Thursday , the husband flew to Kolkatta. They served him Vada and avial and a pongal in-flight. He immediately called up the niece in Bangalore. "Where's yr daughter. I just had Pongal and avial. " The niece wasn't amused. "Dont u dare tell her ", she pleaded, "the next hangaama will be for a flight to anywhere."

Yesterday the husband was in Bangalore. While he was going for his site visit, he saw a food chain outlet. Pongal and avial was on the menu. Also some vada and kesari bhaat. The husband immeidaltely ordered a take - away of 2 plates of each and called up the niece at her workplace. "Is yr daughter at home or at play school" she was at playshcool . The husband noted down the address and sent the driver with the food parcel addressed to Tanvi , at her playschool.

Once they received it, the playskool called up the niece -" Iss ka kya karein". She asked them to give some of it to her daughter during lunch break and leave the rest in the refrigerator for her to collect later. She also instructed them to tell the little one that the snack was sent by her Vittal ajja.

It was a cheerful litte kid that the niece collected from playskool last everning. She was thrilled to bits as she told her mom, " see i told u hee had ordered it at the restaurant. V ajja had said it will take a while".

In the everning when they went to the park , little Tanvi asKed the mother, "will more vadais be coming tomorrow too?". "NO!" said the niece.

Last night for dinner, they had the remaining pongal, avial vada and kesari bhaat. It was a welcome change frm the usual. And Tanvi wanted to have her portion in the yellow tiffin box just as she had had in shcool. Her mom had a hard tome convincing her that the yellow box belonged to teh school . Finally T said.... OKKKK , next time Vittal ajja will send me the yellow tiffin box too

The husband has been informed and I have been instructed to look fr a cheerful yellow tiffin box fr the grand niece.

The khaandaan has been updated abt this and is now singing .. Nehle ko dehla milaa. badaa mazaa aayaa!

When my daughter heard of this incident , she moaned, "WHHY, dont i have a kewl ajja or a maaama ?

Which got me thinking.... I dont have one either !

Boooo HOOOOOOOOO!

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