My family and other animals
Its Saturday afternoon, I'm rudely awakened from my post (heavy) lunch siesta, by a phone call:
My Mother (sounding slightly hysterical): Aami bari chere chole jaabo. (I will walk out of this house and never come back)
Me( not surprised or shocked by this oft repeated statement and still not fully awake): Uh hummm
Mom (hysteria increasing): Aar parchi na, as if I did'nt have enough trouble already. (I can't take it anymore)
Strange sounds heard in the background...
Strange sound 1: hoooooownooooooooohhhhsososbsniffsnifffff
Strange sound 2: hissssssmmmmmmmmaawwwwhissss
Me: Where are you? Whats that noise?
Mom: At home. (redoubled hysteria) Cats!!!! And your sister.
Me (truly baffled): Eh?
Mom (hysterical shriek): This girl. This unspeakable pest of a girl. Dukhana beral niye esheche. Cardboard box e kore. (Shes brought two cats home. In a cardboard box)
Me: Rather resourceful na...cardboard box and everything.
Mom(wildly) : Nongra aggressive bhoyanok beral. Kache gelei aanchre dichche. Aar fhyansh fyansh korche.Shunchish na. Ki hobe. (Dirty aggressive fiendish cats. Cant you hear? Scratching us the second we get close. And hissing. What to do)
Strange sound (reaching a crescendo): Sobsobsob whooonnnooooo...they are smaaaaall and scareddddd, sosbsosbwail wail...indecipherable something....
Me(enlightened): Oh Rimpu knadche bujhi? (Is that Rimpu crying?)
Mom: Knadche. Hrrrrrrmmmmmmpph. Syringe niye esheche aabar. (Crying. Has brought a syringe)
Me( somewhat alarmed): Sheki!! Syringe niye ki hobe!! Drugs nebaar taal korche naki? Tao aabar openly? (What!! Why a syringe? Is she planning to take drugs ? That too openly?)
Mom ( exasperatedly hysterical) Of course not. She is insisting that I feed the cats milk with a syringe. Erokom nyaka beral jonme dekhi ni. (Never seen such nyaka cats in my life).
Strange sound 2: Hiiiiiiiiiiisssssshisssssss meeeoooowwwww hisssssssss.
Me: Sounds scary. Why a syringe? Maane are you expected to inject them with milk? Intraveneous milk ki bhalo idea? (Is intraveneous milk a good idea?)
Mom(sounding quite loony by this time) : Jani na. Dhorbo ki kore. Aanchre dichche. Im covered in scratches. Syringe e kore doodh khawate koto shomoy laagbe. Aami Himaloye chole jabo. Oooohoooooohooooo. Tor Baba bari eshe ki bolbe...ki hobe. O baba aabar box theke beriye edik odik palache ( I don't know. How will I catch them? Scratching me. How much time will it take to feed milk through a syringe? I will take off for the Himalayas. What will your Father say when he comes home? Oh God. They have jumped out from the box and are running here and there.)
Strange sound 1 : Wnaaaaaaaaahhhh leeett mee keeeeep theeemmm EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK OUCCCCHHHH oooooooooooohhhhh
Me: She just got scratched didnt she?
Mom (Loon alert): Dhordhordhor....eeeeee normodaye dhuke jachcheee..Nyakami na koree dhoro na aapod gulo ke (Catch 'em catch 'em....they are going down the drain. Catch them cant you!?)
Me: Hmm, yes, so I will call you later. When things are calm.
Mom: Gelo gelo shooob gelo. (All hell has broken loose)
Ends call.
Say what you will about my family but we are an entertaining bunch. Not to mention unexpected.
PS: I cannot translate nyaka. It is beyond my linguistic abilities.
My Mother (sounding slightly hysterical): Aami bari chere chole jaabo. (I will walk out of this house and never come back)
Me( not surprised or shocked by this oft repeated statement and still not fully awake): Uh hummm
Mom (hysteria increasing): Aar parchi na, as if I did'nt have enough trouble already. (I can't take it anymore)
Strange sounds heard in the background...
Strange sound 1: hoooooownooooooooohhhhsososbsniffsnifffff
Strange sound 2: hissssssmmmmmmmmaawwwwhissss
Me: Where are you? Whats that noise?
Mom: At home. (redoubled hysteria) Cats!!!! And your sister.
Me (truly baffled): Eh?
Mom (hysterical shriek): This girl. This unspeakable pest of a girl. Dukhana beral niye esheche. Cardboard box e kore. (Shes brought two cats home. In a cardboard box)
Me: Rather resourceful na...cardboard box and everything.
Mom(wildly) : Nongra aggressive bhoyanok beral. Kache gelei aanchre dichche. Aar fhyansh fyansh korche.Shunchish na. Ki hobe. (Dirty aggressive fiendish cats. Cant you hear? Scratching us the second we get close. And hissing. What to do)
Strange sound (reaching a crescendo): Sobsobsob whooonnnooooo...they are smaaaaall and scareddddd, sosbsosbwail wail...indecipherable something....
Me(enlightened): Oh Rimpu knadche bujhi? (Is that Rimpu crying?)
Mom: Knadche. Hrrrrrrmmmmmmpph. Syringe niye esheche aabar. (Crying. Has brought a syringe)
Me( somewhat alarmed): Sheki!! Syringe niye ki hobe!! Drugs nebaar taal korche naki? Tao aabar openly? (What!! Why a syringe? Is she planning to take drugs ? That too openly?)
Mom ( exasperatedly hysterical) Of course not. She is insisting that I feed the cats milk with a syringe. Erokom nyaka beral jonme dekhi ni. (Never seen such nyaka cats in my life).
Strange sound 2: Hiiiiiiiiiiisssssshisssssss meeeoooowwwww hisssssssss.
Me: Sounds scary. Why a syringe? Maane are you expected to inject them with milk? Intraveneous milk ki bhalo idea? (Is intraveneous milk a good idea?)
Mom(sounding quite loony by this time) : Jani na. Dhorbo ki kore. Aanchre dichche. Im covered in scratches. Syringe e kore doodh khawate koto shomoy laagbe. Aami Himaloye chole jabo. Oooohoooooohooooo. Tor Baba bari eshe ki bolbe...ki hobe. O baba aabar box theke beriye edik odik palache ( I don't know. How will I catch them? Scratching me. How much time will it take to feed milk through a syringe? I will take off for the Himalayas. What will your Father say when he comes home? Oh God. They have jumped out from the box and are running here and there.)
Strange sound 1 : Wnaaaaaaaaahhhh leeett mee keeeeep theeemmm EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK OUCCCCHHHH oooooooooooohhhhh
Me: She just got scratched didnt she?
Mom (Loon alert): Dhordhordhor....eeeeee normodaye dhuke jachcheee..Nyakami na koree dhoro na aapod gulo ke (Catch 'em catch 'em....they are going down the drain. Catch them cant you!?)
Me: Hmm, yes, so I will call you later. When things are calm.
Mom: Gelo gelo shooob gelo. (All hell has broken loose)
Ends call.
Say what you will about my family but we are an entertaining bunch. Not to mention unexpected.
PS: I cannot translate nyaka. It is beyond my linguistic abilities.
17 Comments:
interesting. give more details when next call comes thru.
By
Soham Pablo, at 8:47 AM
:D this was fantastic reading.
By
Dreamcatcher, at 9:14 AM
So what was the fate of the cats, finally?
By
Shrabonti, at 3:28 AM
it doesn't seem to be a pleasant encounter with the ill-behaved cats...but what happened next?
By
Amrita, at 7:20 AM
This comment has been removed by the author.
By
Amrita, at 7:21 AM
man!!!!!!!!!!!Nyaka is one word I learn't very well from my Bengali friends at HCU :-)
By
Seema, at 9:16 PM
We also have a " nyaka " white pegeon. It comes each morning at the kichen window and waits for the " chola " given by your mother.It does not eat the same "chola "given by anybody else!
As for the cats, you are being briefed by Ma everyday !! So carry on with the next episode !!
By
Unknown, at 8:39 AM
"Dhordhordhor....eeeeee normodaye dhuke jachcheee..Nyakami na koree dhoro na aapod gulo ke" ... hilarious!!
i generally explain 'nyaka' to my non-bengali speaking friends by acting it out -talk with a drawl and move the body as if the bones have vanished- there seems no better way to explain it.
By
runa, at 9:48 PM
Oh boy. Eagerly awaiting the next installment. You do live:)
By
dipali, at 9:18 PM
Every Bengali I know says that about nyaka/ naeka. Most frustrating!
By
Rohini, at 10:53 AM
waiting for your next post
By
Anonymous, at 4:47 AM
The kittens ran away. Much to my mothers relief and my sisters sorrow. Apparantly they were seen hobnobbing with a older and slightly more sinsiter looking feline couple of days before they escaped, so one wonders about their whereabouts now.
Rohini, nyaka is....if you are familiar with Moon Moon Sen (onscreen I mean) then let me just say that she personified nyaka.
Runa, am I right in my explaination of nyaka?
By
Ron, at 6:07 AM
What a scream! And please explan nyaka more---haven't understood yet, but dying to!
By
LAK, at 9:38 AM
lol that was so hilarious.. u have an amazing ability to describe sounds as well..lol
By
Sindhu Bharadwaj, at 4:17 AM
Please write more---long hiatus! Let october be the time you restart.I have started too!And it is National Blog Writing Month, it seems!
By
LAK, at 1:48 AM
Please start writing again. Your posts are hilarious.
By
Nilesh, at 6:00 AM
Hello Ron,
I am one of those silent followers of your blog and it's been a while since you posted anything. Hope all is well with you and I really wish that you start writing again soon. I miss your blog.
-Pramodini
By
Pramodini, at 12:12 PM
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