Overdose of Mantam-isms

I know I already posted Mantam-isms in the beginning of this week. But these days they are speaking like adults and I wanted to record their dialogues for posterity’s sake. Here goes:

In the last post, I mentioned about Mannu suggesting me to get a potty seat for the pigeon. The very next day, Tammu advised me to get diapers for pigeons!!! 🙄

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They were playing with their Kitchen set and both were asking Abbas, Ma and I as to what we wanted to eat. Each of us kept demanding by naming exotic food items. They were going back and stirring the pots for a while and coming back to us presenting the dish. This kept repeating for a while and then Tammu got bored as is her typical characteristic. I insisted on having some food and to avoid my request, she said ‘Gas to khatam ho gaya. Cooking nahi kar sakta’ (She has run out of gas and cooking can’t happen) 😯

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This month has been financially draining for us as we had to get Mantam’s school and Summer Camp admission done and Ma was hospitalized. When they asked me to buy something exquisite, I refused point blank saying ‘We didn’t have money’

One day Mannu saw a Rs.20 note lying on a table and she promptly gave it to me saying ‘Mamma baba ke paas paisa nahi hai na? Ye rakh lo’ (You don’t have money na? Keep this)

Day before yesterday I ordered 3 story books for them from Flipkart. I told them in the evening bubbling with excitement, ‘Mantam I have ordered books for you’. Tammu said ‘Mamma  ke paas paisa nahi hai na? To kyun ab books kharida phir?’ (You don’t have money na? Why did you then go to buy now?)

And in both cases, I hated myself for telling them that we didn’t have money. But one part of me was happy to see that they understood the value of money at least to some extent.

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Ma was hospitalized for 5 days and she did not have TV in her room. Mantam watched Chota Bheem everyday for half an hour till I settled things down in the kitchen and got their dinner ready. After Ma came back, she wasn’t letting them watch Chota Bheem as she got engrossed in IPL matches or mega serials or Bengali news channels. So Tammu threatened her ‘Didi TV dekhega to Didi ko phir se hospital bhej denge’ (If Didi watches TV, we’ll send Didi back to the hospital)

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I was reading stories to them and the pages were flying vigorously as the fan was rotating in high speed. All of a sudden, Mannu went to flip pages of other books and I watched curiously what she was upto. After rummaging through pages of many books, she asked ‘Marbook kothay?’ (Where is Marbook?) I asked what??? She kept on repeating Marbook Marbook Marbook. I didn’t understand. She then told me it was what I keep in between pages when I read a book. I exclaimed ‘You mean Bookmark?’ She was looking for it as the pages were moving so aggressively. Flipkart, if you are listening, you can add this to your ‘Reasons for using Marbook err… Bookmark’

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So we got them admitted to the Summer Camp happening at their school coz the after school day care is only from 12 noon to 6 PM. Now that the school is closed, we have no other option but to let them join coz even otherwise we have to pay extra for 9AM to 12 noon day care. Oops, I digress.

At the camp, daily they are teaching kids to prepare one dish. First day, they taught them making a sandwich. This is how the conversation went among the three of us.

Me: Mannu Tammu aaj sandwich banaaya? (Mantam made sandwich today?)

Mannu: Haan Mamma. Super yummy hua tha, pata hai? (It was super yummy, you know)

Tammu: Mamma khali cheese sandwich banaata hai. Hamaara sandwich kitna achha tha. Mamma nahi bana sakta. (Mamma only makes cheese sandwiches. Our sandwich was very good. Mamma can’t make that)

Me: Okay, tell me how did you make it?

Mannu: Pehle bread ke upar butter ghasa. Uske baad cucumber rakha, tomato rakha, thoda salt daala. Phir aur ek bread rakha, aur thoood asa press karna hai. Zyada nahi press karna hai. Okay? Phir yummy ho jayega. (First scrub butter on a bread. After that, keep cucumber, keep tomato, put a little salt. Keep one more bread, press lightly, don’t press hard. It will be yummy)

Tammu: Mamma, ghar mein cucumber hai kya? (Is there cucumber at home?)

Me: No. Why?

Tammu: Ghar mein Mamma ko sikha denga Mannu Tammu (Mannu Tammu will teach Mamma at home)

Me: Ok, I’ll get it tomorrow. i’ll cut cucumber and tomato and you can show me how to do.

Mannu: Lekin cucumber ko cut nahi karna (But you shouldn’t cut the cucumber)

Me: Will you keep the whole cucumber in the sandwich?

Mannu: Aunty ne cucumber cut nahi kiya. Round round hi rakha (Aunty didn’t cut cucumber. She kept it round round)

Probably they had cut the slices before starting the activity

 

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