“What is your opinion, generally, about me, Ammalu?”
“Very good”
“Will you tell this to your mom?”
“No”
“Why?”
“Her opinion, already about you, is very very good”
“That additional ‘very’ doesn’t appear be good for me, Ammalu”
“That exactly was the reason why I didn’t tell her my opinion about you”
“Very, very thoughtful act on your part, Ammalu”
“This additional ‘very’ is OK?”
“Nothing is okey when it comes to you and your mom. But I’m very coolerant . So, I’m tolerating”
“What is that ‘coolerant’ SP Sir?”
“That is a new word, I added to the Oxford Dictionary. That means very, very tolerant”
“So, you have now started fooling Oxford Dictionary too?’
———————-
What nonsense did you utter to Paru, when you met her last week at the railway station, SP, Sir.?’
‘Nonsense? I just bid her Bon voyage and said,’take care’.
‘You said something more?’
‘Yes, ‘You are my eyes’, I said’
‘You said that really?’
‘Yes, what wrong in that?’
‘SP, you told that 60 year old grand ma of six grand children , ‘you are my eyes ?’
‘Yes, Ammalu, I was under spiritual ecstasy as I was returning after a Saturday bajan in the temple’
‘Lie. Saturday Bajans were shifted to Thursday since an year.
Then what happened?.’
‘She exclaimed, ‘oh, SP, thank you for saying that I’m your eyes.
No doubt, you have four eyes. Even God Shiva had only three’
‘Then?’
‘Then, I raised my hand to my face to check whether she was bluffing’
‘SP, aren’t you ashamed? Why did you behave like a madcap before her?’
‘Sorry, Ammalu. I lost my mental balance when I saw her’
‘I know you. You lose your balance whenever you see a woman. Anyway, she has got this gift for you from Bombay’
‘What gift is that Ammalu?’
‘A hand mirror. Keep it in your pocket. Use it whenever you want to check your eyes’
—————
Ammalu, our Reshmi’s mother Savithri Bhat madam says that there is a Devine spark in me. Don’t you agree?’
‘She is seeing you from Palakkad, which is thousands of miles away and sees only a spark. I’m living with you for the past several years and I know that you are not a spark, not even a fire, but you are a wild fire- Kaattu thee.
She will know the truth when she comes to USA’
‘Ammalu, I have not burnt you, remember’
‘SP, I’m Ammalu, remember
—————————-
Ammalu, if I tell you, just for fun, that you are not the woman whom I love most, will you swoon and fall flat on the floor, out of shock?’
‘No, SP’
‘You won’t even ask me the name of the other woman?’
‘No, SP’
‘No reaction for my startling revelation, from you?’
‘Reaction is there, of course’
‘What?’
‘Your next drink from me won’t be Coffee but Kadukkai kazhayam’
‘But that will lead to loose motion’
‘Exactly. Your joke will get fleshed out along with that’
—————————-
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