Monday, February 11, 2008

Confusions - Unlimited...

Nantu has been awfully quiet this week, minding his own business and not coming up with profound thoughts.. The major subject of my posts gone, I started thinking and came up with this topic to write about. Its a story...
(Pict Courtesy: http://www.cateringdirectuk.co.uk)
Now I am going to tell you a story... this tale is set in Arid Arizona and is part true, part exaggeration. The true part happened a few years ago, the rest happened in my imagination. The hero of this story is a man we will name Mr. Confused. The actors in the tale are his American lady manager - lets call her ALM (yikes?? my creativity is lacking due to some brain cramps) and then there is me.
I am a fan of bath and body works and always had a tube of body cream adorning my desk those days.. what with the dry weather et al, I needed it. ALM was a good friend of mine, and as she passed my desk one day stopped to smell the tube of cream. "What is it?" She asked. "Moonlight path" I answered... and we went on to talk about perfumes for some time till we walked away to the break room to discuss perfumes over a cup of coffee.
Now, Mr. Confused had been trying his best to befriend ALM and the effort had not gone unnoticed by me (well at least I noticed). So the next day, he walked up to ALM's desk picked up her lotion splayed some on his palms and asked her what it was "
It smells so good" he said. I unfortunately couldn't catch her expression, but I had to mask my giggle with a cough. Later that day Mr. Confused got a phone call from his wife who pretended to be his 3 month old daughter. He turned to us (another colleague and me) and narrated the conversation ... as ALM walked by he was saying "that was so cute" complete with the fluttering hands. She looked my way with raised brows, but walked away.
Still later ALM was at my desk one day and we were working on something. When Mr. Confused came by to his friend, patted him on the back linked his arm through the other guy's and said "Chal, lets go for a sutta" and dragged him away. (By the way that means lets go for a smoke, but poor ALM probably had no clue).
Later that day at lunch
ALM asked me "So whats the deal with Mr. Confused?"
I replied "What do you mean"
She said "You know is he gay or something?"
I said "Noooo.. he is married and has a new born baby, so nooo"
She said "Maybe he just hasn't realized it yet?"
A few weeks after this conversation I stood with my friend T (An American guy) talking to him about his motorbike. T was a biking enthusiast who rode cross country on occasions. Mr.Confused came up to us all curious about our conversation.. when he was clued in he exclaimed "Oh T you should take me for a ride on your bike someday". I really wanted to take him aside at this point and clue him in!! The poor guy probably never realized the impression he was creating?
(Pict Courtesy: http://www.veganmomma.com)
Ahem Ahem.. I so wanted to name this blog "So .. Gay!".. but then I didn't for obvious reasons! If you are Indian, or know how things work in India you have followed the story so far... If not, send me a note and I will clue you in. Anyway, there is more. A few months back another American Lady friend of mine visited India. She got to see a dance program which was probably put up in her honor! A guy did a "routine" (in her words) apparently, and in the middle took off his shirt and flung it!! (yikes!).. Some girls she sat with were cheering him on...She was bewildered as she told me this tale.. "The poor things didn't have a clue, they kept claiming he was cute.. I so wanted to tell them He is not your type.. he was so... gay!!". I looked at DH and started giggling!! I promised my friend I would watch a Bollywood flick with her someday and left it at that!

So what did you think of this story.. come on tell me.. and do you have similar tales to share? I am all ears!!
On an completely unrelated note.. This morning as we walked to the car, Nantu and I spied 2 snowmen complete with hands. Some kids had made these men just outside our home (so mean!).. anyway Nantu of course wouldn't let it go "Look Amma snowman with hands. This is how you should make snowman!". I promised him that we could go and stare at them after school... I hope I don't have to make more snowmen now!! If you find this note bewildering.. you haven't read the one about the handless snowman.
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How is the new layout.. chosen by Nantu himself.. "My blog this is how it will look he says", since when did this become his blog?

19 comments:

Savani said...

I think there IS a huge cultural gap. When I was in grad school another videshi friend thought that a desi friend was gay!

Preethi said...

Dotmom - Yes it is.. in more ways than this.. but I was trying to be funny.. so left it at that!!

K 3 said...

WOW! Your blog has changed its look! Nice.

BTW, you are tagged.

AA_Mom said...

Like the new look. Yes as DM says it is a cultural gap. It does feel odd to us after having lived here for such a short time. Strange ye?!

Preethi said...

K3 - Sure .. So many have tagged me for the retrospections tag.. that is definitely my next post!! :)
AA_Mom - Many are lacking in cultural sensitivity and it is a good thing to acquire... there is nothing wrong with what ALM thought is there?

aMus said...

heh..heh...Mr. confused would probably be horrified by the impression he had made!!!

the blog's nice....cute...in fact...

Aryan-Arjun said...

Hei..the new layout is cute..and more bright.. but somewhere if you put that one yellow butterfly..it would be fantastic....Nanthu is for sure a cheekey monkey..
Now Mr confused seems to be so funny..he must be more confused if he knew what ALM is thinking about him..
Aryan's Mom

Preethi said...

Suma - I bet he would..
Aryan's mom - yeah I kinda miss the yellow butterfly too.. but decided to let the Boss decide!!

Swati said...

Nice new look. You are tagged

dame's diary said...

Poor Mr.confused!!

:(

Rambler said...

I have a tale, that too happened in Arizona, what a coincidence, many people like MR Confused do not have any idea about whats "so Gay" in the US, This guy from work who was from india had a habit of putting hands around the shoulder of the person walking next to jim, or try to make some silly gestures holding the other guys hands, unfortunately the only other Indian he knew was me, I had already been asked by my American friends if he is gay or something, now that made me so concious when I used to be around him.. :)

Preethi said...

That's a funny one! there was one in my office (bck in India) Mr. S'- punjabi with a ooooh! la la look et al, but he was so narcissistic that we(girls) reluctantly called him 'Gay' but In this case though he turned out to be one in the end!! Caught him on camera. Yikes! It was an American company so the uproar was minimal but the video was circulating everywhere heeeee heeee.

Your new look is fantastic. the colour combination is cool. Nantu is a cool one :) One tiny suggestion though--It will be nice if the space between two lines is more. Will make it easier to read..

Fantasies of a Lifetime said...

lol poor mr.confused . love the new look :) the road runner looks coool :-)

Preethi said...

Swati - Thanks
Dame's diary - yes poor him!
Rambler - Oh my poor you!!
Preethi - yikes... what a story... As for the line spacing.. yes will look into that.. I tried something and messed it up further!
Vish - Thanks :) and thanks for the insight into the road runner and coyote!

Preeti Shenoy said...

heh heh.
Of course its Nantu's blog--and of course snow men have hands ;-)
I am on Nantu's side.Completely.

rayshma said...

d blog looks super! :D good taste, nantu! :D

u know... we don't realize it when we're in india.. but once u live here for a coupla years and go back.. u too tend to re-look at guys dancing together, holding hands et al...! it's funny... a german fren of mine asked me "are these men gay? or is it just a culture thing to keep touching other males?" LOL!!!

Neera said...

He he funny story :)

Love the new layout! It really suits Nantu to the tee.

Hey, incidentally I have been waiting for that five posts tag from u, I somehow remembered seeing ur name (being tagged) by someone. Else I would have tagged you! Want to know more abt u :)

Preethi said...

P.S. - Yeah right... Nantu always seems to win every battle ;)
Rayshma - hahaha... the pity is these guys don't seem to realize it!!
Neera - now I am all done with the tags :)

Yet Another Mother Runner said...

Tagged!

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