My Family and Other Animals

My mother was an accomplished professional and a gracious hostess, but she had a memory like a sieve. Once when a family friend was alone in town my mother invited him for Sunday lunch, and then promptly forgot she had. He arrived, no doubt expecting a delicious home-cooked meal, and then everyone waited … and waited for lunch while listening to increasingly strained social chit-chat. We were starving by the time Ma gave up politely waiting for our (uninvited, she thought) guest to go away, and said, “It’s late, why don’t you join us for lunch. It won’t be too special, but we would be delighted!”

My husband’s grandfather had a volatile temper—the whole family would run for cover whenever he erupted. Once, on a whim, Dadu decided to paint an old, dark almirah. An admirable project for a man of his generation, when DIY was something Indian men would rather die than do. He disappeared for days, until one quiet afternoon, the air was suddenly thick with expletives and the sound of something large being smashed. Dadu was demolishing the almirah with an axe. He had, unfortunately, chosen to paint it white, and the dark colour kept stubbornly reappearing. It had been years since his yelling had failed to produce immediate results.

Every family has their stories of hilarious, heart-warming and unforgettable comedy. Reading our readers contributions to our humour special ‘Funny Families’ we all had a good laugh. 

Much laughter to you too!