Weekend Mantam-isms

Saturday morning saw me waking up to a disturbing sound. When I opened my eyes, I saw that both cribs were  vacant while their occupants were adorning our bed. Tammu was dozing off close to me and Mannu was seated close to her Baba playing with something while making that noise with her hair all open. Tammu woke up and first thing she did was inquiring Mannu ‘Bum mein itching achi Mannu?’ (Previous night Mannu was cribbing that there was ‘itching’ in her bum) She then directly went to her potty seat. She called me to clean her bum after a while. I got off our bed and proceeded towards the bathroom while Mannu followed me as she has a ritual of peeking into the potty seat each time Tammu is done with her business. (Each time, mind you! :shock:)

While in the bathroom, we had a conversation –

Tammu – ‘Mamma, Jumbo abhi bhi crying kar raha hai?’ (Is Jumbo crying even now?)

(Ma had told them that Jumbo* cried when we came from Gurgaon to Blore)

Me – ‘No Beta. Jumbo is not crying now’

Tammu – ‘Jabbb hum Delhi se aaya, tabbb crying korechi?’ (Did he cry when we left Delhi?)

 Me – ‘Yes’.

Tammu – ‘Mimmi* bhi crying korechi Mannu Tammu jonnyo?’ (Did Mimmi also cry for Mannu Tammu?)

Me – ‘Yes’

Tammu – ‘Baadu bhi crying korechi Mannu Tammu jonnyo?’ (Did Baadu also cry for Mannu Tammu?)

Me – ‘No, Baadu cried for me’

Tammu – ‘No Mamma. Baadu* amar jonnyo crying korechi. Baadu amar friend’ (No Mamma, Baadu cried for me, she is my friend)

Me – ‘Then nobody cried for me eh?’ with a grim face

Tammu – ‘Mamma r jonnyo Bhabi* crying korechi’

 

We planned to go to a movie (Kahaani) post lunch. I warned Mantam that if they talk loudly in the theatre, Usher uncle will ask us to go out as others will get disturbed. Post lunch, when we were getting ready to make a move, I asked Abbas if we should put the diapers on as they might want to pee during the course of the movie. He asked me not to worry so much. While in Bulu, Mannu told Ma – ‘Didi. Movie dekhne ke time, baat korbo na. Baire bhej debo uncle’ (She issued the same warning to her granny w.r.t. talking as I did to them)

We reached the theater at 4:30 PM while the show was to begin at 5. While we waited on a couch, Ma tried to pull Mantam’s legs:

Ma – ‘Mannu, why have we come here?’

Mannu – ‘Movie ke liye’

Ma – ‘Where is movie? I’m very hungry. Give me movie. I want to eat’

Mannu – ‘Didi, movie dekhne ke liye hai, khane ke liye nahi’ (Movie is to watch not eat)

Ma – ”Ohhh, then I need something to eat. Give me some popcorn’

Mannu to me and Abbas ‘Didi ko pop corn chahiye’ (Didi wants popcorn)

We said that we don’t have money

Mannu – ‘Amar kache paisa hai’ (I have money) and proceeds to fiddle around her jhola bag to bring out 3 coins

 

After a while, I told that I’ll take them to the loo. Mannu said ‘Mujhe to su su nahi aa raha. Phir bhi main try korbo’ We were in splits.

Once inside the movie hall, Tammu was perched on Abbas’s lap and watching with undeterred concentration. She kept asking questions like ‘Why is aunty crying?’ Mannu on the other side was shuttling between Ma and I. She kept on drinking water. Finally she said ‘Su su peyechi’ Movie was at an interesting juncture. I told her ‘Wait. There will be a break now. I’ll take you.’ But she kept on saying ‘Zor se peyeche’. Luckily the rant began aptly 5 mins before the intermission. I took her to the loo while Abbas went with Tammu to get pop corn.

In the loo, after she finished her Su su, I asked her to wait as I would also pee. She asked me – ‘Ohhh…Mamma ko bhi su su aa raha tha? To Mamma kyu bolechi na?’ (Why didn’t Mamma say that Mamma also wanted to pee?)

Second half was spent munching on pop corn and sipping some soft drink. I was relieved when Tammu came to my lap and Mannu settled in Abbas’s.

After the movie, we went to the super market below the theater and Mannu said it yet again ‘Su su aa raha hai’. Before I could say ‘Phew’, she said ‘Pata nahi mereko itna su su kyu aata hai’ (Dunno why I get so much su su)

From there we drove to a restaurant. After dinner, Mantam both took a tooth pick each and were digging away their teeth to glory. We came out and were waiting for the elevator, Ma began pulling Mannu’s leg again – ‘See that Security uncle is staring at you, how a small baby is using tooth pick….’ She went on and on trying to scare Mannu as we hopped into the lift while Mannu was still digging her teeth and intently listening to Ma. She paused for a second, pointed to the lift door and said ‘Bandh hoye gachi’ (It’s closed) and resumed her toothpick act. Ma was all cracked up. She meant that the door was closed and nobody was watching her now 🙄

Sunday night, after feeding Mantam, we were having our dinner while they were drinking milk. Suddenly Tammu came to us and said ‘Main Kaalu ke saath shaadi karoongi’ (I will marry Kaalu) We asked her to repeat her words as we were sure we had all heard her wrong. But to our surprise, our ears hadn’t betrayed us. To our respite, Kaalu was our TV anyway 😀 I asked her ‘What is Shaadi? Do you know?’ She said ‘Mamma aur Baba jab small tha shaadi kiya tha na? Waise hi’ (Just as Mamma and Baba married when you were small) She then went close to Kaalu, errr our TV. She tore a waste paper into bits, climbed on a stool and showered the bits on Kaalu. I seriously dunno where she picked it from. After her Mannu also came up to us asking for a paper to marry Kaalu. I said ‘You marry someone something else Mannu. Kaalu is already married’ She said ‘Okay. Main Santa Claus se shaadi karungi’ and sprinkled bits of papers on a toy Santa that we had made last weekend.’

* Jumbo – my BIL, their uncle

Mimmi – my younger niece, their cousin

Baadu – my elder niece, their cousin

Bhabi – my co-sis, they call her Bhabi as both Abbas and I do.