Saturday, October 4, 2008

Fishy stuff and chips

All of us have a self image. When it comes to the way one looks, i think i have mine down pat.

Pleasant looking. Rather forgettable for the first couple of meetings. Then i kind of grow on people and they start to notice that i actually have a rather nice smile. Then people get to know me even better and realize i have nice hair. Then they get to know me some more.... but draw a blank. The smile and the hair. My two complimentable points.

Since i am not really competitive or terribly self concious in any sense of the word, i have lived all the years of my life quite happily, first savouring the occassional "you are the older one?" (my poor younger sister had the misfortune of growing much taller than me) and now, the odd " you have a three and a half year old son?"???? that pops up.

So imagine my utter shock when i was buying some chips and other unhealthy stuff when the boy who was catering to me suddenly asked "madam actress aa?"

Quite sure that i definitely could not have heard what i definitely DID hear, i said "aaa??"

"Madam actress??" he said more confidently.

"No" i said.

"Actress madhiri irukkureenga" he said.

"Two hundred rupees billikku ithu ellam kidaikuma?" i grinned and asked the man at the billing counter whose face was oscillating quizzically between the boy and me.

As it turned out, the billing not-so-gentle-man turned out to be the villain of the piece. "Summa solriya nijamma solriya da?" he asked the boy, jolting me violently from cloud nine.

"ille nijammathaan" said MY boy, still looking at me with stars in his eyes.

Big bounce, back to cloud seven.

I couldnt control my self any longer. "yentha actress"??? i asked

"athu pairu theriyathu madam" said MY boy. "aana unga mathiri than iruppanga. ditto"

i laughed....hopefully the way a not so famous actress does. The boy smiled back shyly. The villain looked like he could slap MY boy and fire him for good. So i quickly said thank you and made a hasty exit.

And i smiled all the way back to the car.

sheesh.

But i still smile :)

11 comments:

Ganges said...

Hilarious, Archie! I cud see the whole scene unfolding (that too in Kerala Hot Chips, Aminjikkarai) including your expressions and your bumps up and down from those clouds!!!

Anonymous said...

Heck..when are you meeting with me :) - Zakthen?

Anonymous said...

I meant - Zak:)

Roopa said...

wow! you have every right to preen, my dear. the only comment i remember ever receiving is "madam japan-aa?" in a shoe store!! i think i mumbled something like "no, indonesian" :D

Anonymous said...

I am smiling too after reading this!! ;)

Arch said...

hey ganga : just remembered- you must have had a lot of such experiences after your stint on tv right? ;)

zak : when are you releasing that multi million dollar movie with me in the lead?!!? ;) More importantly, how could anyone get their own name all mixed up!!!!!!!

roopa : i ofcourse, dont believe you one bit :p

shail : u r the most smiled at person on my blog :) :)

K said...

...and you buy chips for 200 bucks! ;)

Arch said...

dear k : this coming from a person who not so long ago wrote that the new hundred rupee note is the old ten rupee note?? (or something like that...but u get it) :)

Anonymous said...

Sometime next year, bilingual film. You'll need to audition:)
And I get my 'name' messed up cuz the blogger comment box does weird things on my phone, where I browse from

Anonymous said...

ROFL....at the villain's comments. Enjoyed reading this :-))

Oh but please can u do away with the 'word verification'..its a pain :(

Arch said...

hi there writer, thank you for visiting...i had to add the word verification coz i was otherwise getting program generated rubbishy comments. so bear with me and do keep commenting!

zak : audition? oh that is a terrible insult ;)