Tuesday, March 08, 2005

A quick tale 5

All manners

“Don’t slurp your food”
“Eat with your mouth shut”
"Remember, you're not the only one at this table"
“Don’t make a noise while chewing your food. Eat quietly”
The man she had married had all kinds of instructions for her. In the early days of her marriage, her eyes would well up. She was bitterly lonely in this new country with its short days and moonless nights and she hankered for a kind word, a smile, a shared joke. But all that was forthcoming from the husband was instructions on how to eat.

She tried changing the way she ate. She really did. Sitting in front of a mirror, she would scoop spoonfuls of rice from the plate and put it in her mouth. She would chew the food with her lips pursed. But it never worked. Halfway through the exercise, her lower jaw would drop involuntarily and she would find herself eating with her mouth open.

So she stopped eating dinner with her man, always finding some excuse not to. She would serve him food and watch him eat noiselessly with his mouth moving like a well-oiled machine. But after he went to bed, she would slip out to the kitchen, take the rice pot from the fridge, dig out a mound of rice, pour a generous helping of curd, mix it with her fingers, roll it into a ball and swallow it. The food would dribble down her elbow and she would lick her fingers as she ate. She didn’t care if it made a noise. His snores were sure to drown it.

8 comments:

Houseowner said...

i like this! :)
very much.

cheers!
ramya

The Last Blogger said...

Bravo !
I remember watching a tamil movie long time back that had something similar as a premise. Dont remember the name. I think it had Chiranjeevi as the hero if I remember right.
Anyways, very nice post. yOu have a way with expressing a lot in a terse way.

saranyan r said...

Ammani, all the tales were really good. I enjoyed them.

Ranga, I think you are mentioning 47 Naatkal.

Anonymous said...

Hello,
That was a good one...Similar to a few scenes in 47 naatkal starring jayaprada and chiranjeevi,which,incindentally celebrated its 250th show on vijay tv,last week.
Btw these angrezi ppl coin proverbs like MANNERS Maketh a man..Blah blah.
Why bother whthr 2 kep spo�n and fork 2gether or slantng whn the main job of eating is over?

Anonymous said...

it reminds me a very old saying...

not everyone likes the way you eat...except your mother!

4 out of 5 (including impetuously yours!) are on the feminine side.......

come on.....am I a male chauvanist?

Anonymous said...

BROUGHT IN TEARS.......
SOME PAIN DEEP IN ME MUST HAVE SURFACED...
NICE POST

rt r said...

I love your writing, ammani darling!!
This post was wonderful.
Keep coming up with more!

I chanced upon your blog a year back, then lost the link. Googling for Ammani was unsuccessful.
Then rediscovered your blog by chance... Now that i have found it, will keep visiting... Keep writing da.
Arthi

Anu Jayanth said...

I love this one!