SOME COMIC SITUATIONS

  

SOME  COMIC SITUATIONS

Comic situations arise everywhere and are characterized by their unpredictability. My calling them unpredictable relates to their spontaneity of origin and scope of creeping in any where by sheer chance. The lone difficulty with those situations is our inability to stay cool if the persons involved happen to be our superiors or VIPs. Some of them are really hard to tackle in the sense we neither can enjoy nor denounce the happening. I have encountered such embarrassments of ‘neither swallow nor spit’ category. All of them any way are not of the same embarrassment. There have been innumerable occasions of such   happenings.

On an afternoon, I was taking my noon meal in a hotel, when some good songs were being played on the Radio. I turned curious and asked the manager of the hotel as to which Radio station it was –playing songs at that hour. [It was unusual in those days -1967-68]. The manager replied –‘Pondicherry’.  The man opposite turned furious and yelled “both of you seem to be educated fools. Only by 11.00 am Pondicherry Government [ministry] was toppled. How can they play songs at this hour of distress?” With mouthful of food I COULD NOT LAUGH, while the manager had to sustain etiquette even with such customers, containing his laughter.

An employee of the Central Government:

Once I had to send an Aerogramme letter to a US-based relative of mine. Aerogramme letters were not available in any sub post office. At last, I went to the Head Post Office and located the appropriate counter for transaction. When my turn came, I asked for 2 Aerogramme letters. The man across said “there is no such thing”. I sought a clarification asking ‘you mean, you have no stock?’ The man raised his voice to tell “You are asking something unheard of. So, I said there is no such thing”. My anger and curiosity both ran high and I asked him in a louder tone “If GPOs do not provide this, where can I look for it.”  The employee assumed eminence and said “you don’t seem to understand even if uttered in Tamil”. This was the break point. I called for that man to explain in either English or some other language to make me understand what he says. Because every other transaction got blocked, people on either side of the barricade wanted to solve the tangle and the place turned quite noisy.

One elder employee leaving his seat came to the point and asked “Sir, What do you want?” I said – ‘2 Aerogramme letters’. The employee intended for the job was seated as if he has taught me a lesson. Now, much to his agony the elder man opened the ledger and picked out the Aerogramme letters and told his junior colleague that they were very much with him. The incompetent junior was immediately branded in chorus by the crowd “Idiot”. The fellow tried to tell his colleagues, “that man was telling some unusual name, so it was difficult for me to grasp. Had only he told “foreign inland letter” I would have given it”. All his colleagues were heartily laughing and the visitors wanted him to come out for a session of manhandling. The humour turned even more effective because, the person who should be thorough with the official description of such items chose to be blissfully ignorant. Besides, he had the temerity to tell in a nonchalant posture that the customer was telling some unusual name. The comic part was his inability to react when public christened him ‘idiot’.   

Another hotel experience:    Once, I had to accompany a senior person on a long trip to Andhra Pradesh on some official matter. The senior man was not merely a vegetarian, but a staunch one with a deep aversion for spices especially garlic. He would ensure that even by error garlic is not served to him.  In a moment of his gazing elsewhere, the waiter served all dishes meant for the day’s lunch. Our man turned panicky, and pointing to every item, he was trying to elicit from the waiter if it had any garlic in its composition. There was a real problem in communication between people not conversant with each other’s language. So, our man repeatedly ascertained in monosyllable “Garlic, Garlic, Garlic” in every stuff. But, the waiter unable to decipher the question replied “Horlicks is served only by the evening”      

A visitor from USA        On a Sunday afternoon, a middle aged woman stood at the gate of my house and said, “Can I meet Prof. Raman and his family?”  The person was a total stranger and introduced herself as from US and at the behest of Dr. Vaidehi Kannan, calling on us. Dr. Vaidehi and Kannan are independently and jointly related to us. When this visitor had planned her trip to India with Madurai on the itinerary, the Kannans had requested her to call on our family at Tirunagar, Madurai. On this information, we were too happy to entertain the guest and offered to take her to Meenakshi temple.     

Soon it turned out improbable by virtue of her being of Islamic faith. So, we had to plan alternative strategies of spending the time. We had some tiffin richly dished out for the guest. After some three hours of cordial interaction and hospitality, the topic turned to the family members of Kannans at US. At around this stage, the guest referred to Mr. Kannan’s daughter. I was nearly baffled because to my knowledge Kannans are not blessed with any female child. I curiously looked at my wife signaling if Mrs. Vaidehi delivered a daughter of whom we are not really aware. She was more confused than I.

I slowly contested the statement asking for which Kannans the guest was referring to.  She, one by one clarified my questions and we came to the right conclusion that all members the families of the Kannans and those of my own match name for name except for the female child of the Kannans. The truth was, the Kannans of her description and our relative are two different persons. The confusion got confounded by the presence of two different Ramans at Tirunagar, and both were Professors. Incidentally the other Raman was a Professor in another college, also in Madurai. Once the Kannans were logically disowned, I helped the guest to locate the real Raman of her search. But, meanwhile the lady felt so much annoyed that she preferred to move away. But, I assured her that you are most welcome as a new acquaintance if not at the behest of any one. She felt extremely embarrassed to have spent hours in a house without any legitimate claims. I told the guest, “some body has guided you to my house at the mere suggestion of the name. Besides, we both are strangers with a common- link the Kannans and there was no way of doubting each other until that unknown female baby crept in to the conversation”. It was a real comedy of errors.        

 

                                                                                               Prof. K. Raman