Wednesday, September 10, 2008

What's in a name? Everything!

I went to pick up some provisions today for our office Onam function and a product on the store shelf, bought some memories flooding back. A particularly revolting and gross memory that I had successfully regressed myself from over a period of time.

Last year we i.e. my department were invited for a party at a senior management types, house. The occasion was a spectacular performance by our team.

The evening was fun with cocktails, good food and camaraderie and a general feeling of well being. Yours truly was on antibiotics and had to regretfully say no to some fine wine being served by the host and his gracious wife.

The plush Duplex apartment reverberated with the sound of laughter and clinks of fine crystal glasses. As the evening progressed, people formed interest groups and chatted away while an unobtrusive waiter refilled their glasses with some of the finest liquor from around the world.

I was standing in a group comprising of the Boss, the host and a lady colleague from another department. The conversation was engrossing with equal participation from everyone. Midway through the conversation, the host looked at his wrist watch and his half empty glass and languidly reached over to the side cabinet and picked up a packet of Sat Isabgol ( natural laxative). And then, in front of my disbelieving eyes, he poured some of its contents into his glass. He then picked up a spoon, mixed the drink briefly and emptied the glass in one big gulp. The conversation continued unabated around him. Then he poured some water into his glass and downed the remaining stuff that was stuck to his glass.

I looked at Boss but he was pretty intent at driving home a point with the lady. The lady was busy trying to get a word in edgewise, which is next to impossible with my Boss. I managed to keep a straight face for the rest of the evening. When I could not bear it, I laughed uproariously at Boss PJ’s. Finally when I got a chance, I told him of the incident. And then I watched with great satisfaction as he desperately fought to keep a straight face for the rest of the evening.

And if you are wondering why the Boss was having such a tough time keeping a face straight...well...sometime back (as is the practice with Boss with people who piss him off), he had nicknamed the host, 'tightass'!

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY ONAM!!

23 comments:

Deepti said...

"Tight Ass" indeed!! People and their weird ways.. :)

Anonymous said...

When a man's gotta go, a man's gotta go. I'm just glad nobody mixed up the host's drink with their own.

So was the host rather pushy towards the end? As if he had an urgent matter he needed to tend to?

"Hey, Thanks, TA. That was a great party. But I have to go now"

"Oh, you have to go? Me too!!

--xh-- said...

"tight ass" - what an apt name... LOL

Hari said...

Poor ol' Tightass... LOL!! :D

Sriram said...

Tightass was kickass!
so back to ahem.. good terms with Boss, eh?

Philip said...

Good thing you didn't show it to your boss when it happened. All of you may have been without jobs in a few minutes :)

Mr. TightAss..lol.

Amey said...

Ahem, looks like the host is learning to relax ;)

silverine said...

Deepti: :p

Hammy: LOL!!! Well the Isabgol works overnight. So no "pressure" you see! :p

XH: Boss is very creative with names! :)

Hari: Poor guy indeed. Be careful when you drink! :)

Amey: ha ha good one!!! :))

Sriram: Thank you! I wan always in good terms with him. He is a very nice person! :)

Philip: LOL!!! Good one and so true too!!!

Amey: ha ha another good one!

thomas said...

lol! but wasn't that gross as I expected, :D.

Happy Onam to you too!

mathew said...

Onam greetings to you ..wishing you a great time and enjoy the festive "spirit"!!;-D

Rada said...

Your post cracked me up, so did some of the comments!

I have a friend who shudders delicately when someone pours water or soda to dilute a single-malt! I am going to forward your post to him, Silverine!

skar said...

Very informative post.

Firstly, for about a year before last month I was with a roommate who'd kept a packet of Sat Isabgol on the dining table. Unfortunately, it was a small packet so there wasn't much written on it by way of explanation, and what little was there was in Arabic or some such language, like this:
http://www.kilindia.com/pack.jpg

I'd often get a passing curiosity as to the nature of this powder, which looked conveniently like corn flour and was seated on the dining table. I'm just glad I didn't put in as a substitute for corn flour, which was my mom's recommendation for thickening the gravy. Now that you identify it, I realise it was there because his gf, who pretty much lived in our house, had constipation.

Secondly, 'interest groups' is a very handy phrase. I've never thought of/been aware of it.

Tony Sebastian said...

What happened after that "Goes-without-saying" eh? ;)

നിലാവ് said...

Wish you a happy onam silverine...

Abhi said...

Hey the guy's got a serious issue and he can't STOP it. So why should you stop him :)

Pinne CHACKO No5 ROCKED! Oru reksha illa :)

Happy onam :-)

claytonia vices said...

ROTFL!!

happy Onam!

Anonymous said...

Hi Anjali..
I am Asif.. Just stumbled across your blog through a series of nested links.. Read through a few of your latest blogs and I can't stop asking you to write more!.. Keep writing... :)

Unknown said...

LOL "tight ass"..too good.

Some people just have a knack of giving names that stick! your boss must be one!

Vivek Menon said...

Onamashamsakal !!!
Loved Chacko NO.5

Anonymous said...

You bloody country girl, you've been prying on me in the party!! And how dare you reveal these things!! Come to office tomorrow, You're fired!! That's it! No mercy!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Anjali for dropping by to my blog as well.. Please keep reading it... Your feedback would mean a lot to me.. :)

Tails of 4 kitties said...

ha ha ha

silverine said...

Mr Tightass: Hope you got the one year supply of Isabgol we sent you! :|

Tony: lol!!

Nilav: And same to you dear. Hope you had blast!

Abhi: Aiyyo! We have no intentions of stopping him...ever!!! Imagine the situ if we did! *ugh*
:p

Claytonia: :)

Beauty and beast: Thank you so much!! :)

Abraham: He sure does, and this did turn out to be literally true! lol!

Vivek: Same to you!! :)

tail of 4 kitties: Thanks for dropping by and welcome to my blog! :)