A Pinch of Salt

My mom had the habit of sleeping in front of the TV. Those were the days when good old Doordarshan was the only channel available[atleast in my house]. Every Friday they used to telecast a-not-so-very-old Hindi Movie which we would eagerly wait for. At 10.00pm sharp every Friday night, the 3 of us ie. my father, younger sister & I would plonk ourselves on the sofa & watch. My mother would try to finish all her works by 10.45 before joining us.

I don’t know why she even bothered to sit up because she would lean back against the sofa & almost immediately go to sleep. She would get up with a start, during the advertisement break or new-break & ask us what is happening with the story. In the beginning we used to tell her but soon we got tired & asked her why she bothered because as soon as the movie restarted she would go back to sleep. But she never listened. She would continue to sit with us till atleast 3/4th of the movie was over & then finally admit defeat & go off to bed.

One such Friday night, my father had gone off on an official tour & it was only the 3 of us on the sofa with my mother sitting in the middle. As usual, she slept halfway thru the movie. My sister & I grinned, at the sight of her leaning back & sleeping with her mouth slightly open.

An evil thought occurred to me. I went out of the room quietly, came back with the salt-shaker from the dining table & slowly shook the salt into her mouth. It was quite a difficult task but I managed somehow. My sister shook her head at me warningly but she also couldn’t help grinning at the sight. We then, sat back to watch the movie. As usual, when the advertisements came on, my mother got up with a start. Both of us sisters looked at her with expectantly. She coughed slightly, swallowed, jumped off the sofa & rushed to the wash-basin to spit out the salt.

How we laughed…..we held our stomachs & laughed. She came back like a bat out of hell & gave me the beating of my life with her bare hands......THULP, THULP, SLAP, BANG, DISHKYAAOO.
I was a sitting duck………never in my wildest dreams did I think she was going to react so violently otherwise I would have run for cover. It had been ages since she beat me last.

Thru the beating I heard her shouting furiously “It was ok if she put a pinch for a joke, she's emptied the whole bottle into my mouth”…..THWACK, DISHKYAAAOO.

“Sorry, sorry…….I didn’t realize…………OWWWW SORRY” I wailed thru my tears.

My sister sat there looking like she was in terrible pain, trying to control her expressions valiantly before before giving up & spilling into peals of laughter at my sorry state.

Now for the audience question in Doordarshan program style:
What do you think of the whole episode?
And how old do you think I was, when I committed this dastardly act?

Edited to add: Answer is posted in the next post;-P