I know I laugh at the odd time and jokes and some people don't even find this funny. Whenever I tell jokes I am the one, who laugh first and the loudest and people laugh not because the joke I tell are funny, but because; I laugh hard for nothing and that’s the joke.
When we were young, like 12 years and younger than that keeping us quite for couple of hours, during the school holidays; was not easy job for the nannies and housemothers. So in those holidays, they used to make us sleep for about an hour or two, after the morning meal.
That also was not easy for them to makes us sleep. When I was young, I mean in Childrens room younger than 10 years, they used to keep oil in ours eyes to make us sleep and when I grew bit old I mean older than 10 years; then it was even more harder for them to keep us quite. So this time I could have been studying in the 6th grade, may be. The house mother Sabitri Basnyat, just came for a round to check ups, whether we are sleeping or not. She found that I was not along with others. She checked me on my legs, with her giant feet, that some what tickled me and that just made me giggle. It just baffled her, because it was not funny to her. She did the same thing again and said something to me which today I don’t even remember now. What she said then but then again that tickled me and I giggled again. She again did the same thing and needless to tell it tickled me again until she raised her voice and told me that its not funny. I think her raised tone and voice must have doused my giggle and put me to sleep.
In a recent gathering, of our childhoods friends, Rita was sharing her memories of Bal Mandir, which has a nanny named Chiniamaya Didi, who was notorious for cursing anyone like anything; even for a drop of hat. Rita was doing the caricature of ChiniaMaya Didi, when she cursed the one, who used the waters, she had filled to wash the clothes when the day gets warm. What stunned me more was Rita, not only knew each and every dialogue but she knew the persons, like who sat where and the house mother Kedar Shrestha was looking down from her window and the pots and vessels ChiniaMaya Didi had filled water was placed exactly where.
Everyone, who was listening Rita was laughing like hell and we now find it so funny. But that kind of meaningless cursing, to the unknown and unseen, is what the culture I grew up. Its bit strange that some people have that kind of strong memory power and yet they don’t excel in their school and college.
And the other day, it was the time of Shiva Ratri, and our front yard had the piles of logs ready to be burn out on the big night of Maha Shivaratri. The logs were the branches from the trees that surrounded Bal Mandir. To manage the woods for the shivaratri was part of spring cleaning also and we had the big fire at the every shivaratri night and it accompanied some late night snacks also.
In the late morning of one of those day, I must have said something that displeased the housemother; of course, Sabitry Basnyat, who was sitting nearby. I guess it must have been something to do with her defocused eyes and me being so blunt must have passed a blunt comment without caring she is so nearby and not surprisingly that angered her. I don't even remember today, I bet she too can't remember it, what was that which I said, made her mad. But it made her so mad that she picked up a log that was bent on eight places. It was so big that she being 80 kg or more and 5.5 height has to hold that log with her two hands, to beat me up. See I don't even remember the thud sound it may have made. I must have cried then with the pain, but when I look back and remember that bent at eight places and thick log and the anger she felt; makes me laugh like anything.
I only remember, she holding that big log, which was bent at many places, with her both hand in a position to hit me. What used to make them so angry towards us to hit us like that ? But hey, if she had not beaten me like that, where on earth I could have got the courage to face mean people around me ? who hates me for no apparent reason.
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