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My father-in-law played another prank on me wittingly or unwittingly...I think wittingly.
My wife and I got married on the morning of 17 May 1979 at Tirupati. As the leading member of the guest-party, I was put up for that night in a Class III Choultry at Tirupati and after some pujas and stuff the next day I was allowed to take my wife away with me to Gudur where my parents were staying...a 3-hour journey by a rickety bus.
The next day my father-in-law landed up at our place in Gudur to formally 'see off' his newly-wed daughter. On the top of his hooded Gudur-rickshaw was tied up a huge padded bundle which raised the height of the hood by a yard and more. And the poor rickshawala, with the help of curious bystanders, lugged the bundle into our house and my mom asked them to put it up in a dark nook of her house in a standing posture.
I was frankly bowled over and inquired my brand new wife as to its contents. And she replied that it was the custom of them, madhvas, to gift a pair of mattresses to their daughter (and her hubby) as a parting wedding-shot. I would have preferred, like Arun-da, cash instead...C.A.S.H. But I kept quiet since I didn't quite know my wife well by then. And I asked her if it was her intention that we carry the bundle in our 3-tier sleeper compartment all the way to KGP a thousand miles away. She said yes...her pappa would be hurt if we left it at Gudur.
I said ok but I was not going to let her make me unpack the bundle to show her pappa's fond mattresses off to my parents and sisters....there was no way I could load them back into the gunny sacks into which he had got them firmly sewn up...or is it sewn down? She said ok...compromise is the secret of marriages and politics (our famous IIT KGP alumnus @ Delhi will learn it the hard way duly).
So the bedding traveled with us in our sleeper compartment, stood up near the bathroom door by the porters so that it would not inconvenience our co-travelers except when they were in a nagging hurry. The luggage charges cost me more than our fares. And it was duly unloaded by the KGP Bihari porters who squeezed every penny that I could afford, for it to be squeezed and tied up in a separate rickshaw all for itself...KGP rickshaws were not hooded then. Our arrival at the KGP campus was at daybreak luckily and so, except for the early morning jaywalkers, no one noticed our procession to our Qrs C1-97.
When we entered our bedroom there was a stupendous surprise waiting for us...my friends Mrs & Prof NP had gifted us (during my absence) two fabulous Jaswant Singh seasoned teak cots which when joined together made a 2.5 cot, along with matching mattresses and pillows. The cots are still with us as good as new.
So there was, strictly speaking, no need for me to open the huge gift-bundle my pop-in-law had thrust on me. But you know how it is...I duly cut open the gunny sacks and lugged the two mattresses in it onto the joint double cot in our bedroom.
And found a funny thing.
My wife, happily, was only 4' 8" in height (so I could look down on her) while I was all of 5' 6". And my pop-in-law thought what was good for the goose would be good enough for the gander and ordered both the mattresses to be of a matching length of 4' 10".
So when I tried lying down supine on my part of the gift, both my legs were dangling down since each mattress was a bulky 4" in height...there was no kanjoosi there... while my wife was very happy with her mattress. These, you must remember, were placed on top of the two 2" high new mattresses we already got as gift from my friends.
And I at once shifted my part of her pappa's wedding gift on to her mattress so she could lie down on a combo mattress, all of 10" in height. Of course she refused as she couldn't climb up on to such a high bed.
So we placed the two jumbo mattresses one above the other on top of our guest-single-cot...the one I was using while I was a mere bachelor a few days before. That had been gifted to me by Dr J for letting him stay for free in one half of my Bachelor's Flat 4 / 12 for six months.
Our first guest was, happily, from my wife's side of the family...her granpa who had brought her up and educated and got her married to me. And we put him up on our heavily upholstered guest-cot in the middle room.
At 2 in the night I was woken up by a discreet knock on our bedroom door and I found it was our esteemed guest, asking me if I could help him bring down the two super-added mattresses from his bed...he was all of 75 and was not strong enough for the task...it turned out that he was 5' 9" in height...and he was having nightmares that he was falling down into a deep wayside well, legs dangling in the air.
So we two lifted the mattresses and pushed them under our guest-cot. And the next day I went to Gole Bazaar and bought a huge bed-cover to be placed on our guest-cot so that its ends would be hanging all the way down to the floor, thus hiding my pop-in-law's gift-mattresses.
They stayed there for a couple of years lying on the damp KGP floor fighting Toms and Jerrys of the neighborhood.
Till my son was born, when they were uplifted back, after cleaning, onto our guest-cot which became his happy high-flying bed.
But the chap soon outgrew them and reached a height of nearly 6'.
And we shifted Qrs to the apartment B-140. I thought that that would be a nice time to give them away to helpers, but my wife resisted...sentiment.
And when eventually I retired and shifted our luggage to Nellore, I decided inwardly that I was not going to carry them all the way into my retirement, come what may.
Luckily, my friendly Dhobi, Mithai Lal, who served me for all of 40 years, cried buckets when we were leaving KGP and refused to go home till we gave away a piece of furniture as a fond memento. And he asked specifically for our guest-cot.
And I agreed, provided he also took away my heavenly pop-in-law's gift mattresses.
He made a wry face but had to yield....the cot was as good as new...
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My father-in-law played another prank on me wittingly or unwittingly...I think wittingly.
My wife and I got married on the morning of 17 May 1979 at Tirupati. As the leading member of the guest-party, I was put up for that night in a Class III Choultry at Tirupati and after some pujas and stuff the next day I was allowed to take my wife away with me to Gudur where my parents were staying...a 3-hour journey by a rickety bus.
The next day my father-in-law landed up at our place in Gudur to formally 'see off' his newly-wed daughter. On the top of his hooded Gudur-rickshaw was tied up a huge padded bundle which raised the height of the hood by a yard and more. And the poor rickshawala, with the help of curious bystanders, lugged the bundle into our house and my mom asked them to put it up in a dark nook of her house in a standing posture.
I was frankly bowled over and inquired my brand new wife as to its contents. And she replied that it was the custom of them, madhvas, to gift a pair of mattresses to their daughter (and her hubby) as a parting wedding-shot. I would have preferred, like Arun-da, cash instead...C.A.S.H. But I kept quiet since I didn't quite know my wife well by then. And I asked her if it was her intention that we carry the bundle in our 3-tier sleeper compartment all the way to KGP a thousand miles away. She said yes...her pappa would be hurt if we left it at Gudur.
I said ok but I was not going to let her make me unpack the bundle to show her pappa's fond mattresses off to my parents and sisters....there was no way I could load them back into the gunny sacks into which he had got them firmly sewn up...or is it sewn down? She said ok...compromise is the secret of marriages and politics (our famous IIT KGP alumnus @ Delhi will learn it the hard way duly).
So the bedding traveled with us in our sleeper compartment, stood up near the bathroom door by the porters so that it would not inconvenience our co-travelers except when they were in a nagging hurry. The luggage charges cost me more than our fares. And it was duly unloaded by the KGP Bihari porters who squeezed every penny that I could afford, for it to be squeezed and tied up in a separate rickshaw all for itself...KGP rickshaws were not hooded then. Our arrival at the KGP campus was at daybreak luckily and so, except for the early morning jaywalkers, no one noticed our procession to our Qrs C1-97.
When we entered our bedroom there was a stupendous surprise waiting for us...my friends Mrs & Prof NP had gifted us (during my absence) two fabulous Jaswant Singh seasoned teak cots which when joined together made a 2.5 cot, along with matching mattresses and pillows. The cots are still with us as good as new.
So there was, strictly speaking, no need for me to open the huge gift-bundle my pop-in-law had thrust on me. But you know how it is...I duly cut open the gunny sacks and lugged the two mattresses in it onto the joint double cot in our bedroom.
And found a funny thing.
My wife, happily, was only 4' 8" in height (so I could look down on her) while I was all of 5' 6". And my pop-in-law thought what was good for the goose would be good enough for the gander and ordered both the mattresses to be of a matching length of 4' 10".
So when I tried lying down supine on my part of the gift, both my legs were dangling down since each mattress was a bulky 4" in height...there was no kanjoosi there... while my wife was very happy with her mattress. These, you must remember, were placed on top of the two 2" high new mattresses we already got as gift from my friends.
And I at once shifted my part of her pappa's wedding gift on to her mattress so she could lie down on a combo mattress, all of 10" in height. Of course she refused as she couldn't climb up on to such a high bed.
So we placed the two jumbo mattresses one above the other on top of our guest-single-cot...the one I was using while I was a mere bachelor a few days before. That had been gifted to me by Dr J for letting him stay for free in one half of my Bachelor's Flat 4 / 12 for six months.
Our first guest was, happily, from my wife's side of the family...her granpa who had brought her up and educated and got her married to me. And we put him up on our heavily upholstered guest-cot in the middle room.
At 2 in the night I was woken up by a discreet knock on our bedroom door and I found it was our esteemed guest, asking me if I could help him bring down the two super-added mattresses from his bed...he was all of 75 and was not strong enough for the task...it turned out that he was 5' 9" in height...and he was having nightmares that he was falling down into a deep wayside well, legs dangling in the air.
So we two lifted the mattresses and pushed them under our guest-cot. And the next day I went to Gole Bazaar and bought a huge bed-cover to be placed on our guest-cot so that its ends would be hanging all the way down to the floor, thus hiding my pop-in-law's gift-mattresses.
They stayed there for a couple of years lying on the damp KGP floor fighting Toms and Jerrys of the neighborhood.
Till my son was born, when they were uplifted back, after cleaning, onto our guest-cot which became his happy high-flying bed.
But the chap soon outgrew them and reached a height of nearly 6'.
And we shifted Qrs to the apartment B-140. I thought that that would be a nice time to give them away to helpers, but my wife resisted...sentiment.
And when eventually I retired and shifted our luggage to Nellore, I decided inwardly that I was not going to carry them all the way into my retirement, come what may.
Luckily, my friendly Dhobi, Mithai Lal, who served me for all of 40 years, cried buckets when we were leaving KGP and refused to go home till we gave away a piece of furniture as a fond memento. And he asked specifically for our guest-cot.
And I agreed, provided he also took away my heavenly pop-in-law's gift mattresses.
He made a wry face but had to yield....the cot was as good as new...
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