Amma and I were sitting down at the computer, just now.
Varsha aunty from Australia mailed my mum with the lyrics for the latest Telugu composition she's learning, and asked her to e-mail back the corrections along with their meaning.
Having been in Chennai for most of our lives (actually, ALL my life) our collective grasp of Telugu, at least pure Telugu, does not amount to much.
So we turned to the wise woman in our lives for help; Ammamma.
At least, Amma did.
I on the other hand am more CONSIDERATE regarding other people's needs, and pointed out to her the very obvious fact that given the lateness of the hour, my grandparents might be ASLEEP and it would be very cruel to disturb them for something so insignificant to their lives.
But by then she'd already dialled, saying some vague thing about how it was "her right to do so".
Thathaiyya picked up the phone. The first thing Amma asked him was "Are you asleep?" and Thathaiyya said "Asleep? NOW?" as if we had, by suggesting that he should be asleep by this hour, cracked a joke. Batman that he is.
And Amma said "See?" and then told Ammamma all about our little dilemma, who began reeling off the meanings of all the words that were not necessarily in the song alone, but were also related - however remotely - to the song.
And I was getting irritated because MY job, in all of this, was to type out whatever this computer-challenged woman told me to, and moreover make it sound coherent. Which in itself is not such a bad thing, but they were both yakking away at such a high speed, and she kept saying "WRITE IT, WRITE IT" while listening to Ammamma on the phone and saying "Yes, I knew it, that's what it means" - now how am I supposed to know what THEY must've been talking about?
So I said "What can I write? I can't hear what she's telling you over the phone, can I?"
But she went on yakking away.
So then I got a little worked up, and said, "Stop pissing them off, Amma!"
And she gave me this HUGELY witty comeback,
"YOU are pissing."
~~~
If you've heard me laugh - hysterically, like I do - you can imagine by now what would have ensued.
And ensue it did.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
No comments:
Post a Comment