Something from the past..

It is always curious when there is a power cut.
Because it cuts you off from your routine.
And it becomes interesting when your mind tries to occupy
itself with things that are available.

Yesterday night there was a power cut for about an hour and a half at approx. 2 a.m.
It had been a really hot day and there was absolutely no breeze.
Aravind was next to me trying desperately to go back to sleep,
and tanya was already asleep and i was hoping she wouldn't wake up.
I wasn't trying to sleep because i can never sleep when there is no breeze.
So i got some newspaper and started fanning Tanya.

And this was when i remembered a funny story from the past.
You see my mother and her aunt happened to be of almost same age.
Odd, i know but it is a fact.
They were in the same school but different mediums.
mom in eng. medium and her aunt in tamil medium school.
So these two met only during breaks and while commuting to school and back.
Annual day functions were nearing and people were selected for
different cultural programs in school.
And aunt got selected to play a part in a tamil play of a king-queen era.
And she was the queen.
She announced this at home and people at home
(which was a really big group of
over fifteen people in a really huge house. Six sisters and some
of their families living in the house )
got excited about this because
nobody has ever been IN a drama before.
But aunt wasnt really forthcoming with any information but was prompt
in going for practice sessions.
She wouldn't even tell mom much about it eventhough they were thick friends.
So the day was nearing and when there was only a day left for the show
aunt announced that nobody from home should come to the play.
If she knew that there were people coming she wouldn't go.
After a lot of questioning, finally all of the them agreed that they wouldn't come.
But you should know better than to believe that. There was a secret plan ;)
It was show time, aunt had left earlier
and the whole group got dressed really quick with even a few neighbours
joining in. They were all stacked up in 3 huge cars.
This was 35 years before. So going in a car was a big deal and
that too for all the ladies leaving at the same time was an event of a
different magnitude all together.
The cars reached the school grounds.
Great grandad was very well known and respected so they had a huge welcome show.
They were all seated in the VIP rows and they all waited for the show to start.
The king came... after a while the queen entered the stage.
the moment had come... but it was not aunt,
(as some of you might have guessed!)
The family was promptly in confusion and after some futile discussion
concluded that there might be another queen in the play.
But someone said the story has only one queen.
That is when mom spotted one of aunt's class mate and asked her where Shanta(aunt) is.
And she pointed to the stage.
But there was only the queen there.
Maybe it was afterall Shanta with all the make-up looking different.
Mom said " she looks different with all that make-up"
"With that crown it is almost impossible to believe"
Friend says " crown? Oh my God. It is not the queen
but the one that is fanning the queen."
It took a while for the whole party to digest this information
and they all promptly looked behind the queen and spotted the girl
and burst out laughing.
All this while she had gone for practice sessions to fan the queen.
They couldnt stop laughing and grandad was upset with this whole fiasco.
After the play the whole group came home ( aunt was to come later)
with firm instructions from granda that nobody should laugh or ask any questions
regarding this. Granda was a serious person and not one had the guts to defy him.
So she came home, and people were curiously silent
she probably expected a parade of questions,
she looked relieved until grandad very innocently asked someone to switch on the fan for the
girl and they all started laughing uncontrollably and aunt burst out crying
and for the next 10 years all they had to do was mention the word
and she'd start her moaning very very silently slowly turning it to a loud cry.
But the family had one more thing to laugh at and never missed a chance.....