Travel time is fun for me. I do not like to do much of anything on the move and so I have the privilege to indulge in millions of other conversations or actions being carried on around me. Like any other trip back home this one was a short one too. While on my way back, I found a species sitting diagonally opposite to my aisle seat on the row ahead of mine. You shouldn't try to name the species because only I can...but you've seen her quite a few times and if you are an Indian you know one of her pretty well. That species is what I fondly call 'the aunty ji of India'. Quite commonly spotted, Aunty jis are very hard to distract. They usually seem diving in and out of the luxurious pool of self-indulgence.
Nevertheless, there was this aunty ji in the row before mine and I spent an hour watching her and smiling to myself in sheer satisfaction which comes only from watching fat aunties trying to feed themselves. Yes, I have the time to do that and the propensity required too!
Aunty ji asked for some tea. Then she sniffed into the cup to ensure they haven't been keeping cow-dung in it before they got her the coffee mug. She elegantly lifted the mug to the air hostess who poured a cuppa hot black tea in it. Then the struggle to prepare the tea began. Oh boy, has anything been more interesting.
From the pack of tid-bits, aunty ji first pulled out a sachet of after-mint. Assuming it is sugar, she slit it through the middle and flipped it upside down to pour the contents right in the mug! My heart was beating faster. I almost said it aloud, 'Aunty ji, that's mint not sugar'...well almost is a good word to describe desperation sometimes. Fortunately, for aunty ji the contents didn't really fall off. Thanks to her excellent sachet dissection skills. She pulled the mint sachet back, put a finger inside to enlarge the hole she'd made and bang! She now knows its not sugar. She hurriedly puts it aside and looks around...eventually at me too. I just pretend I'm sleeping with my eyes half open ;). Aunty ji is relaxed and back to her old deed again.
The next sachet is that of salt. The funny thing is all these packets have the contents printed on them in a lovely cursive font. For aunty jis these things go unnoticed. This time around aunty ji was very careful. She opened the salt sachet and put a finger right in the 4cms X 4cms thingy and then pulled it out only to suck it literally!I thought to myself 'that's salt, ok next' (i guess in sync with her). Man, she had got some knack for first-hand trialing. Now I know who you would need for all those quality assurance checks performed to ensure there are no fall-outs. Aunty ji , of course. Stupid questions often have simple answers.
Aunty ji finally picked sugar. I was relieved and sad too, after all it was fun watching the silent episode. What really got me thinking is the confidence and certainty with which she picked the tea whitener (Most of us deliciously call it the milk powder). She was sure it was tea whitener, she poured it without much ado. She didn't think for a micro-second about sneaking a taste before she lets it loose unplugged into the tea. Cause-effect relations are tough to establish in any sample of aunty ji but I conjectured that this is the power of the brand. Strangely, I never thought that the Nestle everyday(tm) is positioned that strongly into the minds of Indian Aunts who can't even read the salt/mint labels on other packs! I tried to recall adverts of the brand....it was something truly aunty-genised.
Yes, there wasn't much to laugh about in this post but damn! why do you people expect me to write only funny things. This may not be a funny story but that's because it was a fun experience. Next time you travel on a sector which houses some aunty characters - check them out for some real-time-on-the-go entertainment.
Have a good trip!
Nevertheless, there was this aunty ji in the row before mine and I spent an hour watching her and smiling to myself in sheer satisfaction which comes only from watching fat aunties trying to feed themselves. Yes, I have the time to do that and the propensity required too!
Aunty ji asked for some tea. Then she sniffed into the cup to ensure they haven't been keeping cow-dung in it before they got her the coffee mug. She elegantly lifted the mug to the air hostess who poured a cuppa hot black tea in it. Then the struggle to prepare the tea began. Oh boy, has anything been more interesting.
From the pack of tid-bits, aunty ji first pulled out a sachet of after-mint. Assuming it is sugar, she slit it through the middle and flipped it upside down to pour the contents right in the mug! My heart was beating faster. I almost said it aloud, 'Aunty ji, that's mint not sugar'...well almost is a good word to describe desperation sometimes. Fortunately, for aunty ji the contents didn't really fall off. Thanks to her excellent sachet dissection skills. She pulled the mint sachet back, put a finger inside to enlarge the hole she'd made and bang! She now knows its not sugar. She hurriedly puts it aside and looks around...eventually at me too. I just pretend I'm sleeping with my eyes half open ;). Aunty ji is relaxed and back to her old deed again.
The next sachet is that of salt. The funny thing is all these packets have the contents printed on them in a lovely cursive font. For aunty jis these things go unnoticed. This time around aunty ji was very careful. She opened the salt sachet and put a finger right in the 4cms X 4cms thingy and then pulled it out only to suck it literally!I thought to myself 'that's salt, ok next' (i guess in sync with her). Man, she had got some knack for first-hand trialing. Now I know who you would need for all those quality assurance checks performed to ensure there are no fall-outs. Aunty ji , of course. Stupid questions often have simple answers.
Aunty ji finally picked sugar. I was relieved and sad too, after all it was fun watching the silent episode. What really got me thinking is the confidence and certainty with which she picked the tea whitener (Most of us deliciously call it the milk powder). She was sure it was tea whitener, she poured it without much ado. She didn't think for a micro-second about sneaking a taste before she lets it loose unplugged into the tea. Cause-effect relations are tough to establish in any sample of aunty ji but I conjectured that this is the power of the brand. Strangely, I never thought that the Nestle everyday(tm) is positioned that strongly into the minds of Indian Aunts who can't even read the salt/mint labels on other packs! I tried to recall adverts of the brand....it was something truly aunty-genised.
Yes, there wasn't much to laugh about in this post but damn! why do you people expect me to write only funny things. This may not be a funny story but that's because it was a fun experience. Next time you travel on a sector which houses some aunty characters - check them out for some real-time-on-the-go entertainment.
Have a good trip!
0 comments:
Post a Comment