After two very tiring days in Dallas and then rushing back for a customer dinner yesterday, I was dog tired and late to bed last night. Decided to change up my routine this morning – slept in till 6 am and then had a leisurely coffee at home instead of going for a run and all that. And since I had missed Nikita’s birthday day before (I was on the road), offered to accompany her to school today.

While driving there, I opened with an ice breaker – “Can you think of some
English words that have three consecutive vowels?”. She gave me one long look, answered “Aaaaaaah”and “Wheeeeee” and then closed her eyes!!!! But not before reminding me “No more academic questions before school hours”!!!

Needless to say, the rest of the trip was very quiet and decidedly vowel-less!!!!

I was having my daily call with mom this morning. We were just chatting about how the day went for her when she suddenly asked “Badambhaja kachchis?” (“Are you having roasted peanuts?” – this, by the way, is a very common snack for Bengalis). Completely taken aback (after all, I was just having my first cup of coffee in the the morning that time), I replied “Na. Keno bolo to?”. (“Nope. Why?”). To which she responded “Naah. Hotat badambhajar gondho pelam monay holo”. (“Oh! I thought I just smelt some roasted peanuts”).

And I am like “What? I am talking to you on the phone” 🙂 🙂

A similar incident had happened a long time back. I was talking to her from my mobile phone near my cubicle in office. I was talking a little softly (unlike other days where I would have stepped out of the office and called her). She asked me if I was sick. (BTW, my mom  jumps straight to the conclusion that I am sick if I do anything different from what I did the previous day 🙂 ). I, of course, said No and asked her why. She said that my voice was very muffled. So, I explained to her that there were other people around me who did not understand Bengali and I was trying not to be rude – so I was speaking softly. She immediately hushed her voice and said “Oh! that is a good point”.

And I am like “Why are YOU hushing your voice?” 🙂 🙂

We still talk about that incident once in a while….

Last night after coming back home, I was teasing Sharmila about something. She was putting up a spirited fight but clearly was not winning the battle of wits. (That is my story and I am sticking to it 🙂 ). So the two girls immediately jumped in to bolster support for mom. But, I think what Niki did next bordered on the extreme 🙂

I will not mention who the subject of this story is – for, like most others, I value my life too – but it was too hilarious not to share.

It was a Sunday afternoon – and like most Sunday afternoons, I was going around doing my business – which means mostly doing maintenance work inside and outside the house and cleaning and organizing stuff. Since the temperatures were a little better, I decided to clean up the garage.

Soon, I noticed a lot of clutter – including shoe boxes lying around. I was almost going to throw them into the garbage when I realized that they actually had shoes inside. Opened a box – and there was a nice pair of running shoes inside. And “nice” to me, means flashy colors 🙂

Of course, worried that *somebody* might have forgotten about them, I went inside the house and had this conversation with her:

Me: “Did you know that your new running shoes are lying around in the garage?”
*Somebody*: “I know. I have not found a matching shirt to buy yet. ”
Me (totally confused): “Ok. So why are the new shoes lying around in the garage? Why are they not in the closet where you keep your shoes?”
*S*: I have run out space for more shoes.

I returned to the task of cleaning up the garage wondering what the hell am I thinking taking a year off from work….

In Nikita’s school. Her friendly advise was ominous – “Dad, no jokes. No unnecessary Hellos. Don’t embarrass me”!!!