Friday, August 11, 2006

Loo Incident

When my sister started dating, she sometimes took me along as a chaperone. One evening a prospective boyfriend took us to a restaurant. We ate in the outdoor area. Afterwards I needed to go to the loo. It was a bit far from where we ate, which was good, considering what happened next. I had a bit of a problem with the toilet door. I tugged and tugged at the door but it wouldn’t budge. I tugged hard and the whole door came off with a crash. Nobody else was in the toilet area at that time so nobody saw what happened. I went out, my brain still trying to digest I had just yanked a door off its hinges. There was a light switch right outside the toilet and I automatically pressed it, as I usually did at home. The toilet light went out, so did some lights for the eating area nearby. Gasp! I quickly pressed the switch again and walked calmly towards our table as if nothing had happened.

Bibi Rani

After the neighbour boy left, my mother found another washer lady. She was a cheerful Indian lady. Bibi Rani was very dark, very round and very nice. She helped my mother to lift father when he was completely paralyzed. When my father was beginning to recover, she became a physiotherapist and helped him walked up and down the house. Bibi Rani liked to chew betel leaves and tobacco. She carried around a tin can to spit into. She let me try some betel leaves with a little lime. I can’t remember the taste but it was not unpleasant. Bibi Rani has a sister-in-law called Bibi Anggema. She also chewed betel leaves and tobacco and I think she was addicted to lotto. The ladies spent long afternoons discussing what numbers would turn up next. They analyzed their dreams or their relative’s dreams or anybody's dreams and then tried to interpret the dreams into numbers. It was an elaborate and complicated process. Every once in a blue moon they won a bit of money and they would brag about it to us.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Lotto Addicts

After failing to turn the neighbour boy into a proper laundry man, my mother found a real washer lady. Bibi Rani was cheerful Indian lady. Very dark and round all over. She helped my mother to lift father when he was completely paralyzed. When my father was beginning to recover, she became a physiotherapist and helped him walked up and down the house. Bibi Rani liked to chew betel leaves and tobacco. She carried around a tin can to spit into. She let me try some betel leaves with a little lime. I can’t remember the taste but it was not unpleasant. Bibi Rani has a sister-in-law called Bibi Anggema. She also chewed betel leaves and tobacco and I think she was addicted to lotto. They spent long afternoons discussing what numbers would turn up next. They analyzed their dreams or their children’s dreams and then tried to interpret the dreams into numbers. In fact, they interpreted anything that they saw or experienced into numbers. It was an elaborate and complicated process. Every once in a blue moon they won a bit of money would brag about it. Then they would immediately restart the painstaking process of number-hunting.