The world is full of madmen, they say, and we are all mad in one sense or the other. Is that right, I wonder again and again... are all of us equally mad?
I just heard from an old boy that their overhead water tank was overflowing, and the housewife next door - a middle-aged mother - drew their attention by throwing a brick and breaking a window.
And my wife says she was shopping at a women's wear outlet in Calcutta where there was this fat middle-aged woman trying out all sorts of fancy clothes appropriate for skinny teenagers and loudly proclaiming to anybody who'd listen that she didn't care about the price tag, because her lockers were chock-full of black money.
And amidst this blistering heat I can see whole families gorging on phuchka (paani-puri) by the roadside at ten o' clock in the night...
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6 comments:
Oscar Wilde took his pet lobster for a walk in the park regularly and two American students have been trying diligently for two long years to hypnotize a frog.
I'm glad that people are eccentric in this sort of way, for the good-natured humour they provide us if not for anything else.
Thanks,
Joydeep
Dear Sir,
First I used to laugh at these people. Now I have started to pity them.
Regards.
Dear Sir,
Gorging on phuchka at ten o' clock at night is fine - just day before yesterday, I came across a family gorging on 'aloor chop' at about 2 o' clock in the afternoon near Santragachi station.
Just goes to prove my point, doesn't it Pritam?
This post has had me and will have me in splits and have brought and will bring the tears every time I am reminded of it.
I honestly cannot believe the first tale and yet I can see it happening right in front of my eyes. But what was the middle-aged mother thinking? Did she explain herself? But I can't see how she's harmless...what if the brick had hit somebody? And why was she throwing bricks?! This seems to be a scene from one of those bizarre sit-coms...
The second story also brings on the fits. Now it's one thing to try on clothes which aren't meant for one - and I have seen things that are better not seen, and shouldn't be seen. But that bit about the black money?!
The last bit: I hang my head in shame. I have done the same much to the ire of many around me. I couldn't resist eating phuchkas some eves even when it was blistering hot outside when I was in Cal...but then some people have called me 'mad'.
However, I have seen people weighing over 250 pounds (and they aren't giants either. They are about as tall or rather as short as I am) consume these humongous bags of chips and an entire 1 litre of Pepsi right in front of me while working on papers. Some of them can't even take the stairs and they are almost ten years younger than I am...and some of these large people have even commented on the fact that I eat a 'large' breakfast!
I sometimes worry Suvro da. I grin like an idiot and sometimes with bemusement on the bus when I am reminded of your posts (the other ones in the recent past were 'Humbled...' and 'A New Language...') and about the '??' they raise, and I'm sure there are now some people at least who think I'm quite mad - laughing or smiling for no reason and at nobody. All quite harmless but to no good ends though...
P.S: Your tale of what Boudi saw has become quite a hit with the couple of friends I happen to have here. It's become, in fact, a point of comparison for other shared tales- "...this is as bad as the fat middle-aged woman trying on those tight clothes and screaming loudly that she had loads of black money, black money..."
I am yet to share the 'brick throwing middle-aged mother' story. I'm waiting to share it over brunch sometime, and get people gurgling.
And I was wondering: I did hang my head in shame but I would do the same. So I don't know whether I'm really ashamed. I'd go and eat phuckas if I felt like it - hot or not. I can't take hot weather anymore but I would eat the phuchkas.
I - sigh - thought for a while that my little comment on people guzzling down a litre of Pepsi and gobbling down 300g of chips in one sitting led to the post of yours on why you have no sympathies for certain people...
Take care.
Shilpi
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