by M.Mohankumar
I don’t mind the clutter and the clatter
that she creates as she goes about her job
in the kitchen; but what riles me is the chatter-
so meandering, dwelling mostly on TV serials
and movie stars and the gossips about them.
I’ve already told her off several times.
She has a way with words – but unrestrained
and lacking in refinement. She has studied,
she says, up to the S.S.L.C. (She says it
with a touch of pride. But I know promotion
is automatic these days up to that stage.)
Be that as it may. But it isn’t the gift of the gab
that you look for in a house maid. Sometimes
a glib tongue could prove to be bothersome…
And this maid goes one better. She edges in
a word or two of English, as she talks
(perhaps to impress), but often wrong words,
carelessly flung. And the effect is comical…
This morning, finding her unusually silent,
I asked her, “Why are you so glum, Kamala?”
She said, “Madam, he kidnapped me last night.”
I knew she didn’t mean what the words meant;
her penchant for the wrong word was at work.
“What do you mean, kidnapped?” I asked.
And she said, “Yes, Madam, that’s what he did,
that monster, my husband. He staggered in
and dragged me by the hair and beat me up
with a stick till it broke in his hand.”
Picture from https://www.flickr.com/photos/lakshmananand/
