My mother's profession.... well she's a housewife... thats pronounced as "houswif" if you are interested in phonetics, with a silent 'w' and a half silent 'u'. Talking about phonetics, I remember when I was in school I would prepare with my mother for elocutions. We would focus on my breathing, voice modulation, diction, pace, face expressions, body gestures... the works. Later on the process became natural for me which helped during my short stint at dramatics in school. Even now while reading or speaking in front of an audience my voice naturally changes. I don't make any effort to change it but it just does.
All my neighbours would know that I'm preparing for a competition cause my voice was so loud :-) Otherwise I would be this real quite person. While preparing my mother knew the flow of it all so well that I would always tell her to leave the auditorium when my chance came. Cause I was afraid that I would look into hers eyes and when I made some mistake I knew she would know it. After preparing with my mother I would go to Aunty Ancy to check if I was phonetically correct. I remember her telling me how to pronounce the word housewife.... Its "hous if".... "hous if".
Anyways... so I met my mother and sisters after more than a month. We were in Mumbai for Duncan's wedding. The wedding was an excuse to meet up with my sisters who are also in Mumbai. My mom likes to travel. All you have to do is tell her she's invited and she will travel all over the country to attend your wedding. BTW Duncan is also her godchild so she had to be present.
That evening she was telling me about her journey and the people she met along the way. She was telling me ... her face all lit up and stuff.... that the person next to her was wondering who this old lady was that he would be sitting beside. He had seen that her age was mentioned as 56 on the list. Finally when she came to her seat he was like... "you don't look 56 at all... you don't even have wrinkles on your face". There was this other time when some passengers were surprised that she had childen who were so big. My mother would love it when some of our relations (who can't see too well) would say that my mom and sisters, look like sisters..... My mom and I would savour those moments. However for me, the moment would often be short lived when they would say "Let me guess... you're the eldest".... Hello!! you blooming blind bats... I'm the youngest in the family. Well I told you in the beginning itself that they can't see too well.
My mom is probably the only woman in the world who loves telling people her age. Even her email id has her year of birth prominently embedded for all to see.... 1949. She won't say she's 56.... It would be more like, "I'm going on 57".... and then she would wait for ppl's reaction. This waiting for a reaction thing is used in other scenarios too... Like when you have just eaten her cake or some food that she has prepared. If you tell her you like her cake she will bake you one full one. She has plans to start a business baking cakes... Everyone tells her that her cakes would sell like hot cake!! But everytime someone asks her to bake a cake its like, "maybe the next time I'll start charging them".
Come to think of it my dad also doesn't look his age. He doesn't have white hair. He's 57 and sometimes ends up calling my mom's cousins "Aunty" :-) It would be good for them if they are hard of hearing. Hehehe...
All my neighbours would know that I'm preparing for a competition cause my voice was so loud :-) Otherwise I would be this real quite person. While preparing my mother knew the flow of it all so well that I would always tell her to leave the auditorium when my chance came. Cause I was afraid that I would look into hers eyes and when I made some mistake I knew she would know it. After preparing with my mother I would go to Aunty Ancy to check if I was phonetically correct. I remember her telling me how to pronounce the word housewife.... Its "hous if".... "hous if".
Anyways... so I met my mother and sisters after more than a month. We were in Mumbai for Duncan's wedding. The wedding was an excuse to meet up with my sisters who are also in Mumbai. My mom likes to travel. All you have to do is tell her she's invited and she will travel all over the country to attend your wedding. BTW Duncan is also her godchild so she had to be present.
That evening she was telling me about her journey and the people she met along the way. She was telling me ... her face all lit up and stuff.... that the person next to her was wondering who this old lady was that he would be sitting beside. He had seen that her age was mentioned as 56 on the list. Finally when she came to her seat he was like... "you don't look 56 at all... you don't even have wrinkles on your face". There was this other time when some passengers were surprised that she had childen who were so big. My mother would love it when some of our relations (who can't see too well) would say that my mom and sisters, look like sisters..... My mom and I would savour those moments. However for me, the moment would often be short lived when they would say "Let me guess... you're the eldest".... Hello!! you blooming blind bats... I'm the youngest in the family. Well I told you in the beginning itself that they can't see too well.
My mom is probably the only woman in the world who loves telling people her age. Even her email id has her year of birth prominently embedded for all to see.... 1949. She won't say she's 56.... It would be more like, "I'm going on 57".... and then she would wait for ppl's reaction. This waiting for a reaction thing is used in other scenarios too... Like when you have just eaten her cake or some food that she has prepared. If you tell her you like her cake she will bake you one full one. She has plans to start a business baking cakes... Everyone tells her that her cakes would sell like hot cake!! But everytime someone asks her to bake a cake its like, "maybe the next time I'll start charging them".
Come to think of it my dad also doesn't look his age. He doesn't have white hair. He's 57 and sometimes ends up calling my mom's cousins "Aunty" :-) It would be good for them if they are hard of hearing. Hehehe...
1 comment:
just writing to say that you write really well :)
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