Sunday, July 4, 2010

Anecdotes from Singapore-2

Anecdotes contd....(these are slightly R rated.)

4. Electronic sale on in Singapore. That's when the secret shopaholic in my husband awakens. He is like a bull in a china shop kid in a candy store- he wants everything that he sees. Everything around him fades into oblivion when he approaches a sale. Although during the 1st year of marriage,this Shopaholic Mr Hyde in action shocked me, I got used to it as it was only a fleeting spilt-personality appearance. Last year on one such rampage after having bought way too much, he stopped for a fleeting second and probably thought he was being too selfish. So he looked at me and said - Why don't you pick up something. There are so many nice things around. I smiled and told him to carry on and get it out of his system so that we could go home. But he persisted and his eyes landed on an epilator. The sales man handed it to him and went to check on some other customers. It was a very fine looking Philips epilator and as I was looking at it, my hubby asked - What are those different shapes in the box? I explained that they were stencils and are used to give designs while shaving, hoping he understood what I was talking about. He immediately takes one out, puts it on my hand and asks- Who has such thick hair on their hands and legs to make designs and why do people want to make heart shapes on their hands and legs? I noticed the sales man slowing coming towards us, so I immediately took the stencil out of DH's hands and dragged him away. He looked a suitable shade of red when I told him what the stencils were for. Later on my gal friends and I had a good laugh over this incident.

5. Scene 1 - Shopping Mall
Out shopping with my son at a local supermarket. Was looking for some cough syrup while my son sat in the trolley reading a Playhouse Disney magazine. Hearing a noise behind us, both of us turned around and saw that it was a man who had dropped a few boxes of condoms on the floor. My son imm perks up and says - Oh uncle, you dropped some boxes. The poor man looked too embarrassed to even look up, so I grabbed the cough syrup and pushed the trolley away. As we were moving away Nikhil asks - Mummy, what is that box uncle dropped? For some odd reason I told him in a matter of fact voice - Those are condoms. Somehow that seemed to satisfy him and I thought that was the end of that.
Cut to Scene 2 -Cab ride on the way back home
While I was loading up the cab with the groceries, I could hear Nikhil engaging in his own kind of tête-à-tête with the cabbie. By the time I got into the cab, the driver and my son had become fast friends and the cabbie extended his friendship towards me as well. After having heard his opinion about everything from govt to traffic problems to cost of food and rent in a matter of a mins; I was trying to nod politely to everything when he asked - So how much do you pay for your condo?...and my sonny dear pipes up - What's a condom mummy? If I had been hoping for something to shut the driver up, then this was it.  Maybe in his mind he was trying to think whether he said the word and the rest of the journey was spent in absolute silence from his side. I quietly told Nikhil that a condom is that place that we live in and is short for Condominium...Ofcourse he knew that wasn't right and told me that uncle didn't drop our house...luckily we reached home by then and Nikhil got engrossed in paying for the ride and making sure I got all the things out of the trunk. Now waiting for the day when his doubt will re-surface and I know for sure it will be in a very public place.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

heheh..liked both the incident. can relate 2 d first one specially. ajit behaves d same way :)))

Laxmi Gopa said...

@Maria - MEN AND ELECTRONICS ... When Biju gets into that phase, I put on my most bored expression and try to get Nikhil bored as well...its payback for when Biju comes shoe shopping with me...:)

Anonymous said...

Haha....I so wish I had a shopaholic hubby....My true companion is someone who typically shops till they drop!!And the cherry on top is he asks you to do so too!!The second story is a situation I wud seriously dread!!Now that you are narrating It sounds amusing but that scene is a very go- red- in- the- face kinda!!:))
I am getting addicted to your block...loving it all the way!!:))

- Andleeb

Laxmi Gopa said...

@Andleeb - Like I said...the shopoholic in my hubby becomes active only during that particular sale. Else he dreads shopping, esp whn I take a long time and linger over clothes and shoes...and to top it all, he has no idea why i get upset when he comes shopping with me and selects everything for me and makes me leave the shop in under 15mins. I find it so annoying. What's the fun in that?

Laxmi Gopa said...

Re: the 2nd incident - well what can I say? Kids have a way of increasing ur EQ(Embarrasment Quotient).

Anonymous said...

Okay...That sounds so much like my hubby....My hubby wants to shop from one place...he doesent want to look around even if it is at the cost of us buying the bad stuff and costlier at that!At least,Lallu you can go alone if u want to...imagine my plight!!:(
- Andleeb

Anonymous said...

LOL! Hilarious!- Mamtha

Laxmi Gopa said...

@Andleeb - True...I can go shopping alone...and I do a lot of window shopping alone; but I like to bounce my choices off him when I actually buy something.

Anonymous said...

Lakshmi!! am very curious, what prompted you to tell Nikhil that it was condoms!!! Had a good laugh, you definitely know how to laugh at yourself... - Tara

Anonymous said...

You are never going to live peacefully untill he actually gets to know what it is!!
- Tara

Laxmi Gopa said...

@Tara - actually that is something I don't know myself. But I always tell him what things are when he asks me...and then he makes up a word for it and we move on. Next time we talk, will tell u what he calls a lot of things and some incidents which can never be put down on paper...:)
I know Tara...now everytime someone says condo, I feel a kind of heat crawling up the back of my neck. I wish he would just ask and get it over with-cuz I have an answer ready now.:D

Laxmi Gopa said...

@Tara-laughing at myself is what I do best!

Hayaah said...

LOL @ both endearing stories (2nd on too -yes- all in its own sweet ha ha kind of a way)!

Its actually good that you tell him... I see this in a lot of todays mums and its good that the kids get this info at home, instead of in the wrong places :) [says my unmarried, kidless self *mocks self*]

ps. condominium was a brilliant idea.

pps. cab driver shutting up, perchance to rewind in wonder if he said it wrong, CRACKED me up!!!

Anonymous said...

LOL @ both endearing stories (2nd on too -yes- all in its own sweet ha ha kind of a way)!

Its actually good that you tell him... I see this in a lot of todays mums and its good that the kids get this info at home, instead of in the wrong places :) [says my unmarried, kidless self *mocks self*]

ps. condominium was a brilliant idea.

pps. cab driver shutting up, perchance to rewind in wonder if he said it wrong, CRACKED me up!!! - Hayaah

Laxmi Gopa said...

@Shaeema - I always make it a practice is to answer all his questions as factually as possible. Somehow I feel, he can sense a made up reply. I know somewhere down the line, I might have to draw the line somewhere but as of now, I think I can get away with the truth.

Unknown said...

On Shopping Mall Scene,
Laxmi, good presence of mind.

Want to tell you a story i read somewhere, when his small kid came back from school and asked a similar question, his wife was shocked and was about to shout at the kid to silence the kid. Before the mother could speak, the father, without loosing his cool, asked the kid to lift a heavy box at the corner of the room. The kid tried to lift the heavy box and said, "ohh, papa, this is heavy for me to lift, am small child." Then Papa, replied, "see, you need to grow up a bit more, then you can lift that box. Similarly, there are many things which are difficult for a small child like you will understand. But soon you will grow up and you will be able to understand. So trust me, when you are ready to understand, i will surely tell you the answer to the question.

Laxmi Gopa said...

@Biju - that was a good response. I always feel it is better not to shut the child up...afterall aren't we all told to encourage questioning nature.

btw, my husband is also called Biju at home.:)

Being a mummy

Full time Mummy!!