A Family Man

So I get out, with my acha n amma (whom acha calls mama nowadays for some reason) n my ridiculous nephew, whos very soon gonna be an ass whip just like me. he has d symptoms- no guts but keeps fluttering around like a butterfly.

We dropped mum n nephew at some shop n proceeded to the bank cos i lost my old atm. Losing, forgetting, these r things dad gets peevish about, cos he himself does it very often n he cant afford to c d rest of d gang doing it too.

On arrival dad heads to the nearest pleasant looking face, which happens to b a lady's. She seems genuinely delighted at seeing my dad. even i was half-charmed. she talked in a mild but audible voice, n gave carfeul consideration before answering each of acha's queries. n she smiled becomingly when she wasnt. after a while, my dad was directed to another lady, the stout manager, n by then even dad had a smile on his face. possibly a song in his heart too.

Now, i think, what a delightful wife that lady must be. She must never scream, never shout, if ever she displays some disapproval, she must do so by putting a little less salt in the dinner she makes n when d husband grunts annoyed, she would say, dis is all I... can manage.

This must be every man's dream, every man's idea of compromise. even my dad's. pretty too. Instead my dad got "mama". Whom i happen to take after. we bark n we growl. we whine when we r sad n we thump our tails vigourously when we r happy. overall, call us a picture of quiet restraint. no wonder nobody marries their dogs. They marry cats n even dolphins, but not dogs. But my dad did marry my mother. I wonder what on earth possessed him. ignorance. mostly. but 30+ years? seriously? when i asked acha, just to get to the gyst of things, "have u ever been in love?", he says, "what is love? dis is love!". I smile, Im pleased.

but i didnt buy it. that evasive, topic changing, devil.

I find it more likely that it was my n sis's delightful doings that made dad wanna see things through. what will these lil pieces of me manage next? he must have thought.

dad! look how grant i look with ur brylcreem all over me! dad! look how these dogs r not chomping off my hands when i stick it in their mouths!

may be not.

then there is always social condemnation.

but may be it was just that even during the worst of times, he felt, "that bloody woman is right again!"