May 23, 2008

Block and Tackle

Oh please, don't get silly, we are NOT gonna play games on my blog. You get that? Huh? Ok??

Uhmm, I'm sorry I snapped out like that. I have a reason - a proper, justified, totally-makes-sense explanation. The juices aren't flowing, the connection isn't there- it's short-circuited perhaps? Some evil person has put an evil hex on me, thanks to which, a strange something is wedged in between my thoughts and my fingers, thus breaking that connection, thereby resulting in lack of flow of thoughts. See how complicated I made that sound? See how I just used exactly 40 words to desribe what can simply be said in 4 words- I have writer's block. See how my mind is thinking 4 words but conveying them 10 times? You see???

I've been reading this over and over at many others' blogs- xh, Drenched, Busygurl - but I was always like,"Ha! Fat chance of that happening to me!" I guess I 'thought' a bit too early. And now the spell has started taking effect. Everytime I think of writing, nothing pops up! And I thought it was easy :(

It just doesn't feel right not to write. Thankfully, inspiration came in the form of a comment! In my previous post, C R D had mentioned How Relatives say the Darndest (read: nerve-wrackingly-annoyingest) Things. I found that sooo totally true and so I decided to write about a few such irrelevant dialogues spoken when there was absolutely no need for it to be spoken. (that's what irrelevant means right? Now you see what I mean???)

Situation 1: When Mom was in the ICCU after her Angioplasty, this one class mate of mine, who sadly lost his Mom to heart-attack a few years earlier, held on to my Mom's feet crying and said,"Aunty, meri mummy bhi heart-attack se hi mari thi". The word to note is "bhi". Thankfully, she was partially conscious and her knowledge of hindi isn't extensive. But she still managed to remember it a while later and ask me about it!

Situation 2: A Friend's wedding last week. Now, this is hearsay, for I wasn't there when this happened. Apparently a 'cousin' of the bride came upto her when she was getting ready for her big moment and told her,"Ippo dan paaka ponnu madri iruke (Only now you look like a girl). Much better than your dumb jeans and t-shirts in which your ass protrudes out". Awww, now isn't that just the sweetest thing to say???

Situation 3: A family friend's recent visit home. (Unfortunately) I was caught alone with the uncle, just when I wanted to catch some sleep. Nice uncle really, he was earnestly giving me advice on "How to Choose the Right Guy in 5 minutes - Arranged Marriage Style". Mom had gone out and happened to call right then and I gave the phone to Uncle to talk to her. And as they spoke, I guess she mentioned that Dad recently had a giddy spell for Godknowswhatever reason. An absolutely flabbergasted uncle said,"Oh! That isn't good, I say! Please ask him to get it checked, I say! Because, sudden fainting means either:
1. He has a heart problem
2. The brain stem has some problem and could result in haemmorhage
3. His spinal cord has some issue OR
4. Could be nothing.
So please be careful".(Did I mention he's not a Doctor...??) I'm surprised Mom didn't faint on the other end of the phone. (He started off the conversation by asking her why she sounded breathless and how sweating isn't good for a heart patient. He also successfully managed to undo 2 years of our convincing talks with Mum in just under 2 minutes, by telling her,"Heart attacks can come again. Blocks can come again. We are never safe". No comments.)

Situation 4: My Cousin's Class 12 results. A few years back I figured out she's dyslexic and even though the entire family would never get close to understanding the symptoms or her, I stopped asking/ advicing/ pressurising her to 'study'. And so when she got 63% in her 12th boards, I was bordering on elation because, knowing her, it really was no mean task. Heart of hearts I know she was happy with her results (basically passing) too but she couldn't obviously let it be known that she was content with just that much and so she had, no choice but, to cry. Right then, one of her paternal uncles called and said,"63%??? You won't get admission anywhere. And oh, your other cousin xyz got 94%. Bye." and he hung up. Encouragement was his middle name, by the way.

I'm not even claiming to be the Perfect Speaker in all situations or anything. Actually, not even close. The foot-in-mouth syndrome is common but I guess there are certain situations when extra-caution must be taken. If all of us just think before we speak (and that includes me), the World would be a better place to live in.

(You see how how I extrapolated a seemingly simple topic to World Peace..? Damn, I'm losing it. I rest my block)

P.S: 1. For those of you who didn't get my initial outburst, the title is a popular game/ event played at most school and college culturals.
2. Long time since I professed my undying love (on my blog) to BujiBoo, Pp and my Best Friends* - Robo, Janie, Satti, Prathiboo, Andu San, Ani, Rekoo etc. MUAH! *I've included only the Best Friends who read my blogs, the others are loved no less :) Ok, I'm nuts. I'm gonna shut up! :)

47 comments:

aneri_masi said...

All these episodes left me quite speechless! How could all these "adults" be so insensitive and stupid?

That said, you're one funny writer :) Hope your writer's block goes away soon!

rantravereflect/ jane said...

ya'v got back to chopping on the writer block again!!
soooo, keep pourin in the 'peeto' stuff, n keep us entertained!

block n tackle- man tat is one confusing game, n mincing words n matter is all that happens there..

relatives n friends- time n again, mann they 're sucha apin i dun even wanna listen to their crap..

people dun think befor they blurt out things- many a time, i don't either n i'm like hmmmmmmm.. i loved the way ya gave it back to rekha the other day!! kudos..

love the wya ya put together ya emotions in situations n words- they have sarcasm/funny blips lined all around the humor..

n yehhhhh babeeeee :)
love ya tonz always!!!
mwuahhhh

Nirmal said...

he he such people do exist....

if not then wud have been no use of this media....THE BLOG...

so be thankfull to them..

Anonymous said...

Aiyo aiyo, I know how it feels like. And it invariably happens to people who have lived outside of their native, away from where all these relatives are put up. I've faced it too. They talk to us as if we are some radicals, rebels or something.

Lavanya said...

Lol, this was a fun read. And yea, there's that saying innit?
You were born with relatives. Thank god you can choose your friends.

;)

Arun Sundar said...

One should 'break-up' with relatives. That'd be fun.

Vishesh said...

of all the things i hated the last one..if i was in your family the uncle who did that would regret it for the rest of his life...its the worse thing on earth...worse than dieing...how miserable the girl must feel...everyone has their own idiosyncrasies...

Anonymous said...

Nice

Confounded-Lady said...

THis is pretty much like what I was gonna post on.

Some people just have the uncanny ability to say the darnest of things. What happened to diplomacy..even for the sake of it? :-/

I totalyl empathised with you on the dyslexic girl thing....I know someone like that, but thankfully her parents and teachers were supportive and she is doing her MS in the US.

We need more nice ppl in the world.
You and I just wont do :D

Pranay said...

Oh..I wish I can write like this when I am having a block...:P.
But seriously those were some real bad ones....and they do make you think...."How could they???!!!!"

Absconding said...

As residents of America, we are quite used to the 'ignorant' comments made by those in India (we let them pass...well..because they don't know any better..or so we think..). Here's a scenario that I'd let you decide if Indians in America are indeed any better:

Random 'uncle': So..what are you majoring in?
My friend: Social Work
Random 'uncle': WHAT? Is that even a major?

Ok. The girl clearly stated that SHE IS MAJORING IN SOCIAL WORK. He just had to ask that...1. to make her feel uncomfortable 2. to make himself look smart!!

Oye..the unsuccessful attempts!!!!

:D Nice post! :D

V said...

i don't know why they have to make a big deal about the 12th boards... actually, the whole education system doesn't make any sense.. if a guy scores 94% in india, it doesn't mean he's smart, it just means he's good at memorizing.. which should never have been a part of education..

anyway, besides all of that, for someone suffering from a "writer's block", you did churn up some intersting situations worth arguing about... lol...

on an aside, my mom underwent angioplasty too and i couldn't make a trip to india then, by far, that was the worst moment in my life and i'll live to regret it forever.

Tarun said...

Hi,
Just a suggestion, the colour of the font of the blog post is hard to pick up in the background,can u change it please ...

Subramanian Ramachandran said...

ur post has been titled aptly.... block and tackle........when there is a writers' block....tackle it with Tags :) Get some tag and write.......Can I tag u in that case??

well...it is really a sad thing that ppl who dont know how to react in a critical situation utter certain things which adds to the agony... Anyway hope ppl in ur family have as much as spirit like u and do not take such things to heart... rather live happily and healthily :)

Anonymous said...

that's so not right,cha! ask them to zip it or we should find use for those duct tapes lying around. :|

that said, we want some fun posts. :) :D

Keshi said...

ur looking beautiful in that new pic Preeti!


**Only now you look like a girl

OMG! WTF is that?? Someone told me the same in my Saree post. I was so pissed I asked him 'so am I a man when i dun wear the saree?'.


LOL!

Keshi.

Idling in Top Gear said...

This post was super-funny, coz I can totally relate to it. Once my dad's then boss' daughter was getting married, and my dad commented to his boss that she looked very beautiful "fully clothed!" I pulled him aside and asked, "are you crazy?" He said, "You don't know, dad's like to hear that about their daughters!"

I've made an unintentional faux-pas as well. It was 2001, and I was meeting a distant cousin in Dallas on a stopover on my flight back from India. I passed on to him a package from him parents and we sat and talked for an hour, so that I wouldn't be bored at the airport. I was in a bad mood that day because American Airlines had lost my luggage, and luckily, I had his package in my carry-on.

While on the topic of luggage, he asked what I thought of self-check in kiosks, that were just springing up across the country. I said, that they are counterproductive because most people find them hard to navigate, and end up tying down gate agents and delaying others more. Then, I asked, "why do you ask?" Turns out he is the project manager for the software for kiosks for a major airline! D'oh. I tried backtracking by saying, I'm sure your kiosks are great. These American Airlines kiosks probably give all kiosks a bad name. He then clarified that the major airline he was talking about was American Airlines. Double D'oh!

Anonymous said...

Well meant advice: stay away from these people. mark my words. these kinda relatives can cause a lot of damage and "staying in close proximity can be hazardous to health".
I hate chilgoza relatives (with all due respect to them) they think they have a say in everything when the clearly need to realize that what happens in anothers house is none of their freakin concern. Some cheap aunt of mine tried to get me done for stupid reasons once.it was a huge misunderstanding, but it got so dirty in the end that me grandparents had to step in and "calm everybody down to exercise prevention of domestic violence"
but so is life's miseries anyways....
peace, cheers, respect
Mustang

--xh-- said...

hey preetz, u too? hm.. time to break the block... :)
the block and tackle... the attack of wrods - it happends a lot... phew! i had literelly call teh control gods to give me control from smashing some of my frndz adn relatives coz of this verbal acrobatics...

BIG Omi said...

LMAO...
Damn.. it was hilarious.... as y boss says... " if one dosent know what to speak it okay.. but one should always know what not to speak"...

Got its relevance now..
Tc.
omi.. Best word play i have come across since ages..

Preeti said...

@Aneri: YEA! Seriously educated adults, all of em! And yea, *bows down at the compliment* I hope it goes away too :(

@janie: thankoo thankoo panni :) luvvv u!

@nirmal: true, the blog is afterall a rant-hole!

@Adi: hahaha! YEA! Though i dont mind bein called a radical rebel ;)

@Chutney: AMEN to that! :)

@Arun: Ooohhh yea1 That's be SO MUCH fun! :)

@Vishesh: Yea, she did feel miserable...n she's a kid man!

@parass: Thanx :)

@Mayth: Yea juz 2 ppl...2 less an equation, even to have fun rite??? ;) LUV u! :)

@pranay: Oh plz, id never wish for u to have the block! :)

@Absconding: THANX :) Welcome here! And seriously, social work and all they will never understand :D

Unknown said...

ha ha .. i enjoyed this one.. hehe looks as if u were blabbering as usual.. lol.. nothing changed there.. lol..

n seriously can i have a blog of how to choose a guy in 5 mins.. lol tht to for marriage.. that should be fun reading.. lol..

and the foot-in-mouth.. hehe have u tried that practicallyy.. ok ok.. i'll stop blabbering now then.. lol

hehe no comments ( especially when i have commented already ) .. lol ;)

The Retardo Man said...

'Aunty, meri mummy bhi heart-attack se hi mari thi'

*LMAO*

Nice to know I'm not the only one with 'encouraging' uncles...

Your blog made a really nice read...

M said...

the last one comment - situation ..
that uncle !!! well i know how that cousin must have felt but never mind .. she l do wonders for with her probs she has really done well na ..

and u have writers block . same her e!:(
anyways take care

Preeti said...

@V: I can imagine not bein thr for it...i pretty much missed a month of college...thankfull they wrnt all that strict...

@Tarun: Thanx for the suggestion, will definitely see wat i cn do abt it :)

@Rsubras: Tag aa? SURE go ahead! :D

@Wt: I dno abt fun posts, but iv gotten a few more posts to post abt ;) :D

@Keshi: Thankoo, ur the sweetest :) And seriously, iv had ppl tell that too, i juz think they'r a bunch of hypocritical jealous morons...n we couldnt care less now, could we?? :)

@Idling: OUCH! That's bad...How'd ur foot taste? ;) tee hee...n welcome aboard! :D

@Mustang: Yea really, i try as much to stay away n juz keep with the lil ones in the family ;)

@xh: mee too anoooooooo :(

@bigomi:Thanx thanx thanxxxxx!! n welcome here :) Glad to have madeu smile :)

@Ani: Podi dog :P muah! :D

@Retardo: Thanxxx dude! :) Welcome here :)

@Meenu: It's kinda lil lil gone i think...lemme post n c hw the flow goes :) U tke care too sweety :)

Unknown said...

Oh well.. some people don't think.. they just speak.

As for the writers block.. looks like it's the flavor of the month.

Anonymous said...

unnaku writers block aa surprised,and gud way to beat it
:-)

Preeti said...

@J: Flavour of the month it is! How i wish it ws something more interesting!

@Kumar: Enakeee dan! :( But i think iv kindaaaa gt a few more topics to write abt...ezhuda aaramicha dan teriyum :-/

The Maverick Blog said...

This is wat they call "Ubagaram pannatiyum ubuthuravam pannradhu"... If u didn't get it, it is like "Even if someone is not helpful, he/she will be enough to do the necessary damage by uttering some crap"...

Nice post :)...

And long time no c in my blog?

Preeti said...

@Maverick: I understood that and spot on! My sentiments exactly...and SUNIL, im not able to access ur blog page from here cuz it has been listed under category 'music' or something, so it's blocked...i get that message when i try :( do somethin abt it!!!

The Maverick Blog said...

@ Preeti

I am not finding an option to change my default category.... Hmm... Lets c :)

Preeti said...

Gta access it from home only i guess then :(

Vishesh said...

lol,i too am a kid :D

Preeti said...

@Vishesh: Ah, no wonder the sentiments r echoed ;)

The King Centaur... said...

definitely, i am not the right person to comment on this just for the reason being I am the emperor when it comes to foot in mouth syndrome..

You know how much I have been thru.. But sometimes, there is a differnce between people who do it intentionally and unintentionally!

Regards,
Centaur

Preeti said...

@Techno: Ur late...guess i shud b happy u commented...hmmph...

Preeti said...

@Ruby: Plz read abv comment to Satti...Hmmph..

The King Centaur... said...

i wud have not been late had u told me earlier mnkey!

Preeti said...

@Techno: Indha kadhaiye vendam...I told u ok??? :P ena madicha dane?

The King Centaur... said...

nee solavey illa, u have missed out my name for this blog.. if u inform me separately, only then you will know. You inform multiple people.. miss panita di loosu..

accept it!

The King Centaur... said...

and dnt u dare deny it.. mnkey

busy-writer said...

Although, for a 2nd or 3rd or nth person all this might seem funny, it musta been very hard on the person at the receiving end of such insensitive, horrible comments. Some people just dont see the need to think before talking! it's SO sad! There was this one time, when i was in the 9th grade..when this another girl came up to me to ask me some doubt in math and I said I dint know the answer. Another not-so-bright-girl was next to me and she happend to say, "Hey, I knw that.. lemme tell you" ...so the other girl just brushed her off and said "YOU? Hahahaha, are you kiddin!" and she walked off. I can never forget how hurt the girl looked. I so wanted to melt into the ground... sheesh, sucha sad situation.

A.Johnson said...

Ho man P3san..

Your post just brought back a really old painful memory within. I feel so terrible now.

In this lil situation, I'm the insensitive ass-hole. . Such an ass-hole. . .

I once told this person something so mean I still remmbr it on occasions and literally cringe at the thought that I could've been so mean and heart-less.

I just wish I could take back what I said.

Strangely, at the moment that I had said it, I did so will-fully and intentionally as an experiment to test the persons reaction.

I cant even tell the person that I'm sorry cuz Im not sure it affected the person so much. But it was wrong none-the-less... what I did. And I really am sorry.

I hope my mentality never turns that way again... *ulp.

Preeti said...

@Techno: I certianly will deny it cuz i alwayz tell u first...forget it...ul never belive me...

@Busygurl: Sheesh! I've had something similar happen too...And that was in MBA imagine! I'm tellin u gurl, ppl juz dont think!

@Andu: If ur intention wasnt to hurt, then an apology wud make sense...Here im referrin to ppl who speak to speak and dont quite care that wht they r gonna say wud hurt...If u r feelin so bad abt it, maybe lettin it out n talkin abt it wud b a gud thing to do...? Love u :)

The King Centaur... said...

no you dont.. u also never believe me!

Preeti said...

@Techno: It's the truth that matters to me...

Tandroid said...

Just came across your post on a random google search for block and tackle (june 2015). I wish you well, dear preethi. I wish you well. : )