Group dynamics in a married man’s house
Prakash Raj is a close friend of mine who lives in Delhi. This Saturday, we met up at the Barista in DLF Mega Mall in Gurgaon. He had called on Friday and said: “Jammy, don’t you project yourself as a specialist in man-woman relationships?”
“I never did!” I protested. But my friend wouldn’t listen and fixed a 12 noon meeting at the DLF Mega Mall.
Easing into the soft, brown cushion at the Barista, he said: “You are lucky…your mother doesn’t stay with you.”
“Why? What happened?”
My longtime friend detailed out an average day in his life. Apparently, his mother and his wife were having trouble adjusting. Here is his narration, in his own words.
* * * * * * * * *
If my mother managed to open the door for me, my wife will be at an arms distance to get my laptop bag. If my mother kept my shoes in the newly bought shoe-rack, my wife will bring me the towel and ask to freshen up.
Finding a reason to enter the house, I will look up at my father for some support. With an Economic Times and a TV in front of him, he will just shrug and go back to the distractions. I knew his shrug meant, “Buddy, I managed it in my time, now it is your turn,” so wouldn’t disturb him and move to the washroom to freshen up.
If my wife managed to hand me a washed T-shirt outside the washroom, my mother will manage to shout: “The dinner is served!”
At the dinner table, the silences will be long and the sentences short. The utensils will be a lot noisier than normal days. The decibel levels will give me an idea of the magnitude of the fight. On normal days, the ladle will not hit the plate while the rice or dal is served…but on the fight-days….the ladles will make their presence felt.
“So, how was your day?” My wife will ask.
Since, I know my response to this question can break my family into two…I just say: “It was fine.”
If I said that my day was great, my wife would fall into a chasm of self-pity…and solving the fight will become that much more difficult.
“So, what did you do the whole day?” My mother will ask trying to prove a point that her son is more responsive to her questions. Now, even if I wanted to give a detailed answer…I can’t because then my wife would be upset. So I just say: “Nothing much!”
Since my wife is a Malayali (she hails from Kerala), she doesn’t understand Tamil…. mother starts conversing in Tamil at the dinning table. Being the good husband I am…I respond in a neutral language…lest my wife thinks I was conspiring against her.
I look at my father again – seeking advice. The intelligent man that he is, he will just bury his face in his plate and start concentrating on the job at hand.
The dinner will be a disaster. Since both the kitchen queens were pre-occupied, they forget to bring to the dining table two of the dishes that were prepared for the evening. The situation worsens if both the dishes were prepared by one individual, for a conspiracy theory is attached to the miss.
When the dinner ends, I my mother tries to prolong my stay outside the bedroom by offering ice-cream, fruits, Dabur Chyawanprash etc. If I indulge in these after-dinner-activities, my wife starts hinting me to reach the bedroom soon. She lets out statements like, “I am sleepy,” “Your favourite TV show in on now,” etc. Not willing to upset either of them, I take a spoon full of Dabur Chyawanprash and rush to the bedroom.
Once inside the bedroom, I stare at the TV (and think on how best to tackle my wife). Meanwhile, my wife sits before the dressing mirror and sulks. She sulks so much that I am forced to ask: “Why what happened?”
Even before I finish my question, I realize that I have opened the dams. My wife starts crying and explains how my mother is actually a witch that both my father and I haven’t been able to identify in the last 30 years.
I console her. I tell her that my mother is indeed a bad woman and needs to be controlled with an iron hand. My wife is happy and we both sleep peacefully.
The next day while wearing my shoes, I wink at my wife and utter: “Which is bad?”
She looks at my mother and says: “Yes, witch is bad.”
I look at my mother and ask, “Which is bad?”
My mother says, “The blue one.”
I dump the blue socks and wear the black one, as my mother suggests. On my way out, I whisper into my mother’s ears: “I know you guys fought last evening. But I trust you…even before wearing my socks I consult you.”
As I start the car, I hear noises in the balcony of my house. In my rear view mirror I see them holding each other by their unkempt hair. They sure love each other’s company.
* * * * * * * * *
I didn’t know what to advice the friend. After all, he was managing the situation pretty well himself. Besides, who doesn’t have these issues?
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Posted by Jamshed V Rajan
on Jun 30 2008. Filed under Husband.
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Nice post……. LOL……..i am not married but one thing i can say is that it bugs me if there is any sort of raucous in home when i return from company……… Prakash Raj it seems is pretty good at handling this sas-bhau thing……..
Wow Jammy!!
Its always gr88 to read ure blog…I’m a big fan of ouchmytoe and I regularly chk ure blog for latest humourous post.
keep blogging!!
jassi
His poor wife , tell her to get a job.Soon.And maybe he could start helping around at home.Who in the world would provide their husbands with a tee(!!!) , a towel(good lord)after he returns ‘tired’ after a long days work! Good grief!
Great narration…”Opened the dam” haha…gud one!
Much as I want to take the female point of view, I’m inclined to sympathize with man in question for getting caught in the cross-fire. Great post!
“Here is his narration, in his own words. ”
What did you do – record it?
Sounds like one of those funny saas bahu serials…(no no, not the Ekta Kapur genre)
Good post dude… but u seem to have a bit too much in commn with ur friend… Tamil guy mostly very diplomatic, Malayali wife.. etc etc etc
Are u sure this is ur friends story??
so ur mom has come to stay with u raj … ?
well truely speaking i have lot of respects for my MIL and i really wish she comes and stay with us; she is my inspiration to lead life
[...] his own house is probably the one that tests him the most. Jamshed V Rajan takes a stoic look at the group dynamics of a married man’s family. If my mother and wife have had a fight, I will know by 7.00 p.m. itself. Both my mother and my [...]
too good….and too real too.
Hmm….this is the story of every home….guess I should not worry that much about what happened bet my mom and wife yesterday.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha . . . . R . O . T . F . L .
I will never come again to your blog . This post tore my belly and I have to get it stitched by tommorrow .
[...] Posted on July 1, 2008 by Confused And this sexist nonsense is supposed to be funny? If my mother managed to open the door for me, my wife will be at an arms distance to get my laptop [...]
ROFL…too good…if its ur real story my wishes r wid u…
I hope you took his permission to post this not-funny monologue verbatim.
Your friend seems like a total MCP… his MCP finds its its way in phrases like “kitchen-queen??” and his entire narration .. i find this a stupid post ….. not at all funny…
(PS: Am not a married woman – so don’t wrongly infer from my comment that i am touchy about this whole thing)
Your friend seems like a total MCP… his MCPism finds its its way in phrases like “kitchen-queen” and his entire narration …. i find this a stupid post ….. not at all funny…
(PS: Am not a married woman – so don’t wrongly infer from my comment that i am touchy about this whole thing)
“Mounam vidwanu bhushanam”, they say. A wise man always holds his words.
Otherwise in a situation like this anything the man (caught in the middle) says would be used against him!
Nice funny post!
“Which is bad ?”
Hilarious
How do you manage to come up with such funny notes man? How much of this is ‘as is’?
You should consider writing a novel or something; it will surely hit the screens with a warning – this can rip your belly of(f) laughter.
well I had a laugh and I am still in between having my mom and my husband adjust to each other.. sigh… Should be a post but am thinking it should cool down before I post.. only I am seeing the humor.. LOL..
you know, i have to say… i usually love your posts… but this one was seriously sexist!
Poor Guy….
I have never seen such situation happening in my life – but it must be fun watching it as Prakash’s father. That guy is having ball of a time.
Jammy, you should seriously consider writing a humorous book
Jammy,
I agree with Shefali. Get all your posts consolidated in a book. I am sure it will be on bestsellers list soon.
Hey Jammy…found you after a lonnnng gap… The post was really sweet and bloody true!!!!
So u in Delhi now?
Great post! And great flow of passage… everything just came and went by so smoothly, with such jest and humor. Picturing many of my tam friends to go through a similar ordeal, I’m just dying of laughter here! Thanx for the great read.
one of the best posts Jammy… keep it up… and you can understand from my response that I am married
funny to know that modern day girls still behave like this… oops…. modern days girls should understand that mother-in-law is not a threat to them but get the good concepts from them to lead life
[...] much harried # Toilets – how lucky we are to have them # Traveling makes one intelligent… # Group dynamics in a married man’s house Post a comment — Trackback URI RSS 2.0 feed for these comments This entry (permalink) was [...]
hahahaha…
Im particularly interested in the escape route you employed…
These kinda discussions seem to be omnipresent!!!
btw.. im new to the blogging thing and yours was suggested as an inspiration!!!
Jammy..
I hope thats ur name..brilliant post on wife-motherinlaw dynamics
Ur writing is so amazing that u cud actually picture everything that was happening
Seems like a standard day or shall I say nite in a married person’s house!
You gave some great points in that post.
[...] # Group dynamics in a married man’s house # Hosting a dinner at home # Seating arrangement in relationships change with time # When my mom boards the airplane… If you would like to be alerted whenever this blog gets a new funny post, just enter your email ID below. [...]
All u ppl marry women from Kerala?!?!
Hey!
This is hilarious. Wondering if you would want to write for Chicken soup for the Indian Romantic soul? If yes, pls email me at rakshabharadia@gmail.com and I will forward the brief.
Best
Raksha
sweet and really kewl post…had great time reading it….:))
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Awesome post jammy!! Cant miss any of your humorous posts:)
You Rock!