Small Talk Ladies

Two ladies are talking on the telephone. Both the ladies are aged between 54-55.  Before I write down the conversation I will write a little bit about them. These ladies have asked me not to mention their name, so I am not writing their names here.

Lady A is a very intelligent and educated lady with a good sense of humor. She is the wife of an executive and mother of two successful children.

Lady B is of average intelligence and not very educated, with no sense of humor. Of course she has a pure heart. She is the wife of an executive (now retired) and mother of two successful children.

B - Namaste (Hello). Am I disturbing you?
A - Namaste (Hello). No no ! How are you?
B - (In low mood voice) fine….
A - Your voice sounds low? I hope your health is ok.
B - Health is not perfectly ok, but I am fine.
A - What kind of problem is it?  Nothing serious I hope?
B - Oh! No no no ! Yesterday, I had a bad headache.
A - I hope today you are fine
B - Yes yes. Only a bit of backache left. Just leave it there. I called you to tell you something.
A - From where are you calling?
B - I am calling you from Ghaziabad.
A - Oh! So you must be at your daughter’s home.
B - Oh no! He has purchased a flat here.
A - Very good!
B - Nothing is good. The houses are like match boxes. He never listened to me. At this age how will we adjust to a new place? Father and daughter have decide to live here. For the past 30-33 years he never listened to me .What should I expect now?
A - What did you do the house in Lucknow?
B - (sabki najar lag gai) People evil eyed that house. We have now finally sold it.
A - Ok! Now congratulations for your new house. Hope Bhaisahab (B’s husband) is alright.
B - Yes he is alright. Nothing will happen to him .
A - At least in this age you have a partner with you. This is a great thing.
B - It doesn’t  matter if he is here or not. For the past 32-34 years he did not talk to me. What should I expect now?
A - What is he doing after his retirement? Is he doing any job?
B - No. He just sits in front of the T.V.for the whole day.
A - So he is killing his time by watching T.V.
B - I don’t know. May be watching or may be sleeping.
A - Don’t say  things like that. After all he cares you a lot.
B - May be. Yesterday he came in the kitchen and sang a song - Choli ke piche kya hai (a Hindi movie song. It means what is behind the blouse.) I got angry. I scolded him that he should take care of your own lungii (a long cloth men wrap around their loins). You are not at an age to see behind the blouse. Since then, he is angry with me. Now look I said nothing wrong.
A - When will you visit to Varanasi?
B - I don’t know. Let me talk about the reason I called you.
A - Oh yes ! Tell me please.
B - We purchased a house in Ghaziabad. We will be happy if you pay us a visit here.
A - Oh sure! Whenever I visit Delhi next, I will visit your place.
B - Please convey this to Meenu also.
A - Sure.

And the Conversation  went on…

"Thank you", said the cat

In the 2nd week of august I was in Haridwar BHEL township. This is the place from where I started my married life and spent 17 years. During that time I made some great friends. So whenever I or someone from my family visited Haridwar, we stayed with our friends at their place, instead of a guest house. This time we had come to attend Mr. and Mrs. Deb’s son’s marriage. We stayed with Roy’s home. At this age, our children have left home to pursue their destiny, and we live alone with their memories.

At the noon near about 11 am. Abhijit and Roy Dada were not at home. I and Kabli(Mrs. Roy) was chating in her kitchen and she was cooking lunch.  Suddenly something drew my attention. I peeped out from the kitchen window. There was a 3 and1/2 feet long moniter lizard . It was walking into the courtyard. ”How did it come inside?” I asked. She said “May be it crawled under theback gate.”  I took some photographs.

A long time ago, I went there on a casual visit, and that time lots of cats were roaming in her courtyard. I asked Kabli “Where have all the cats gone?” “They all are my younger daughter’s pet. Five years ago when she left for college hostel, they came for a few days, but gradually they stop coming. Now where they are I don’t know.” I recalled that one of the cats was one eyed because when it was a kitten it was living in Dr. Dutta’s flat, and a tom cat hurt it very badly. It would have died of infection and bleeding. But the Dutta’s are a very animal lover family. Dr. Dutta and her family cared for it and it survived . It healed but it lost one eye and became a full size cat. So she named her KAANI (a hindi word, which means "one eyed").
When Dr. Dutta had left their quarter and moved to their own house, she gave Kaani to Bidisha (Kabli’s daughter). Kaani never lived with the Roys but it was very attached with Bidisha. Once I had asked her “How do you maintain your ‘0’ figure.” She smiled but her mother said “Just because of Kaani .She gives her 3/4th  of her food to it.”

That afternoon Kabli narrated a rather amusing incident about Kaani. It is quoted below

“One evening there was a get together in my home and as you know that I am very fond of cooking so with other dishes I prepared three types of fish. When the party was over I gave the left over as well as the bones to Kaani. The time was late night and I was tired. We shut the doors, turned off the lights and went to bed. Next morning Kaani was desperately scratching the back door. When we opened the door it rushed to come in. Its mouth was full of blood and saliva. I simply did not know what to do. Kaani was seeking my help. My husband grabbed it with a towel and with very difficulty we came to know that a big piece of fish bone was stuck deep into its teeth gums. Bidisha called a doctor. Dr. Dutta came immediately. With a lot of drama we manage to pull out the bone. Bidisha picked it , hugged it, and tried to sooth it.
Two days later, again it started scratching the back door. When I opened the door, Kaani came in and started searching Bidisha. She was sleeping. Kaani waited patiently for her to wake up. When she woke up, Kaani put down a dead squirrel in front of the girl then politely left out. Bidisha was confused “What the hell am I supposed to do with this dead rodent?”

It took some time for us to realize that this dead animal was a precious thing for Kaani. Kaani gave it to her as a way of saying thank you.”