To be honest I had nothing on my mind till today morning. After the usual early morning chores, I sat down for an unwinding breakfast moment with a bowl of cornflakes in one hand and the Hindu crossword in another.
What irritates me during the morning rush hour is a phone call. I cannot do anything much about it and yet what frustrates me no end is that, when I am present in the house, it is understood and expected of me to attend to the landline .Well ! I cannot expect my aged parents in law to attend the calls but invariably the caller on the other end will ask for my mother in law....She is a social butterfly.
Most of the times, when the phone bell rings, one of them is certain to be in close proximity to the instrument. But ! they are hard of hearing , atleast they lend a deaf ear to the ring tone of the instrument, feign total disability to hear and then elsewhere conveniently dismiss it off as a partial handicap..
It was yet another blue Monday morning and the phone was ringing incessantly. Each time I picked up the phone, I was compelled to strike a short and crisp conversation because the caller on the other end happened to be a common friend or a relative.
After the initial courtesy talk, I would hand over the receiver to my mother in- law who would continue to chat till the next call. Once she placed the receiver down and moved away the bell would ring again. I had to maintain my cool.....
So ! this my dear friends , is more or less the scenario on any typical morning when friends and relatives know that it is the ideal time to make enquiries and chat with a friendly elderly woman...
The phone bell rang. I picked up the receiver..The voice of a woman on the other end was not familiar.. Politely she said.."Can I speak to Mrs Saroja. Please tell her that I am her classmate Mrs Sushila. We were together in school at Mayavaram."
I was not surprised. My mother in law is an extrovert and makes friends easily. Much before the advent of the social media and since I know her for many years now, like many of our elders, she has this habit of maintaining a diary with phone numbers and addresses. She keeps in touch with remotely distant relatives and friends..
I replied " Madam ! She is having her breakfast. Please give me your number. I will ask her to call you back."
She politely replied..."I will call her in another fifteen minutes. Will that be Ok ? May I know whom I am speaking to." She spoke in chaste Thamizh..
I replied...."Sure Madam ! I am her daughter in law.". Saying I kept the receiver down..
It was a Monday. I was preparing myself , mentally and physically to go to work. I could not allow any trivial distraction or conversation to come in the way of my preparation...
I walked upto my mother in law who was enjoying her bowl of oats and I told her about the phone call and the lady. By then the phone started ringing again. It was her brother now on the line. She seemed highly excited and was soon engrossed in a chat with her brother..
Even as she was chatting, I went close to her and said..."Please do not get up from here.Your friend will call now. Please ask your brother to call you later."
Saying this I went into the kitchen to pack my lunch. Consoling myself, that the crossword could be solved, anytime of the day, I wore a big smile and whispered unto myself..."Go ! Girl ! Go ! the weekend is only 5 days away."
I was still in the kitchen when the phone bell rang. It was Mrs Sushila on the line again..
Saroja : "Sushila ! Mrs Viswanathan ! she screamed with ecstasy ! You are a big shot."..She used the very same words..
Sensing her excitement,I came out of the kitchen to listen to the conversation. No harm in going a little late to work, I decided inspite of the resolution I had made just a few minutes earlier....
Inspite of being there, in the midst of all that was live and happening, I could not make any head or tail out of the conversation...
They were exchanging details about themselves..I understood.
My mother in law said "You are a proud mother and on top of this world. Please do come home.............and the conversation went on and on.They giggled and spoke about their childhood days, school at Mayavaram, how they spent evenings in each others homes...etc etc...Now this chat was getting murkier...
Family histories were exchanged. I was amused and curious too.
On my way out...I asked her...."Amma ! Who's this woman ? Who is is this Mrs Sushila Viswanathan ?"
With a big grin my mother in law replied..."She is my school mate, my classmate , a brilliant student who always stood first in Class. She is the mother of the renowned Chess player Anand Viswanathan ."
My mother in law went on to say " A Sushila studied with me in school but only recently I came to know from a common friend that this is indeed the same Sushila I know. ...and then proudly went on to say..."Uma dear ! You have connected with your friends with the help of FB. I still belong to the old school where we connect in person offline. The world is certainly small, "she added with a smile.....I had no option but to keep mum......
I was amused but I was stumped too ! The world is certainly small and all of a sudden, I started feeling rather small. That was not nice of me. Was It ? Did I cut the earlier conversation with Mrs Viswanathan rather rudely ? Yes Maybe I did..Perhaps she would not have realised that, for I was only a stranger and she was reaching out to a childhood buddy not me...or did she ?
It was perhaps a lost opportunity.That cannot be, I convinced myself...
The Queen Mother had certainly played her moves well.....
Well ! As for me ? I tell myself....I am but a pawn in the literal sense of the term still learning, with miles to go, taking one small step at a time, and realising each time, with every move I make, all it takes is simplicity and humility to reach the top.....
What irritates me during the morning rush hour is a phone call. I cannot do anything much about it and yet what frustrates me no end is that, when I am present in the house, it is understood and expected of me to attend to the landline .Well ! I cannot expect my aged parents in law to attend the calls but invariably the caller on the other end will ask for my mother in law....She is a social butterfly.
Most of the times, when the phone bell rings, one of them is certain to be in close proximity to the instrument. But ! they are hard of hearing , atleast they lend a deaf ear to the ring tone of the instrument, feign total disability to hear and then elsewhere conveniently dismiss it off as a partial handicap..
It was yet another blue Monday morning and the phone was ringing incessantly. Each time I picked up the phone, I was compelled to strike a short and crisp conversation because the caller on the other end happened to be a common friend or a relative.
After the initial courtesy talk, I would hand over the receiver to my mother in- law who would continue to chat till the next call. Once she placed the receiver down and moved away the bell would ring again. I had to maintain my cool.....
So ! this my dear friends , is more or less the scenario on any typical morning when friends and relatives know that it is the ideal time to make enquiries and chat with a friendly elderly woman...
The phone bell rang. I picked up the receiver..The voice of a woman on the other end was not familiar.. Politely she said.."Can I speak to Mrs Saroja. Please tell her that I am her classmate Mrs Sushila. We were together in school at Mayavaram."
I was not surprised. My mother in law is an extrovert and makes friends easily. Much before the advent of the social media and since I know her for many years now, like many of our elders, she has this habit of maintaining a diary with phone numbers and addresses. She keeps in touch with remotely distant relatives and friends..
I replied " Madam ! She is having her breakfast. Please give me your number. I will ask her to call you back."
She politely replied..."I will call her in another fifteen minutes. Will that be Ok ? May I know whom I am speaking to." She spoke in chaste Thamizh..
I replied...."Sure Madam ! I am her daughter in law.". Saying I kept the receiver down..
It was a Monday. I was preparing myself , mentally and physically to go to work. I could not allow any trivial distraction or conversation to come in the way of my preparation...
I walked upto my mother in law who was enjoying her bowl of oats and I told her about the phone call and the lady. By then the phone started ringing again. It was her brother now on the line. She seemed highly excited and was soon engrossed in a chat with her brother..
Even as she was chatting, I went close to her and said..."Please do not get up from here.Your friend will call now. Please ask your brother to call you later."
Saying this I went into the kitchen to pack my lunch. Consoling myself, that the crossword could be solved, anytime of the day, I wore a big smile and whispered unto myself..."Go ! Girl ! Go ! the weekend is only 5 days away."
I was still in the kitchen when the phone bell rang. It was Mrs Sushila on the line again..
Saroja : "Sushila ! Mrs Viswanathan ! she screamed with ecstasy ! You are a big shot."..She used the very same words..
Sensing her excitement,I came out of the kitchen to listen to the conversation. No harm in going a little late to work, I decided inspite of the resolution I had made just a few minutes earlier....
Inspite of being there, in the midst of all that was live and happening, I could not make any head or tail out of the conversation...
They were exchanging details about themselves..I understood.
My mother in law said "You are a proud mother and on top of this world. Please do come home.............and the conversation went on and on.They giggled and spoke about their childhood days, school at Mayavaram, how they spent evenings in each others homes...etc etc...Now this chat was getting murkier...
Family histories were exchanged. I was amused and curious too.
On my way out...I asked her...."Amma ! Who's this woman ? Who is is this Mrs Sushila Viswanathan ?"
With a big grin my mother in law replied..."She is my school mate, my classmate , a brilliant student who always stood first in Class. She is the mother of the renowned Chess player Anand Viswanathan ."
My mother in law went on to say " A Sushila studied with me in school but only recently I came to know from a common friend that this is indeed the same Sushila I know. ...and then proudly went on to say..."Uma dear ! You have connected with your friends with the help of FB. I still belong to the old school where we connect in person offline. The world is certainly small, "she added with a smile.....I had no option but to keep mum......
I was amused but I was stumped too ! The world is certainly small and all of a sudden, I started feeling rather small. That was not nice of me. Was It ? Did I cut the earlier conversation with Mrs Viswanathan rather rudely ? Yes Maybe I did..Perhaps she would not have realised that, for I was only a stranger and she was reaching out to a childhood buddy not me...or did she ?
It was perhaps a lost opportunity.That cannot be, I convinced myself...
The Queen Mother had certainly played her moves well.....
Well ! As for me ? I tell myself....I am but a pawn in the literal sense of the term still learning, with miles to go, taking one small step at a time, and realising each time, with every move I make, all it takes is simplicity and humility to reach the top.....
