Sunday 11 November 2012

A Stinky Post


This happened today…after coming back from school Nikita removed her id[from around her neck] and it caught her ear before coming off. She felt her ear and realised the earring was gone. I was busy making lunch so I asked both of them[pleaded is more like it;-/] to search since it was a gold earring. They looked around for 2 minutes and found the front of the earring. 

I pleaded some more to look for the end but they had lost interest by then. They had already started on their favourite past-time which is arguing. Nothing happens in my house without an argument. Like it was expected, 5 minutes later both got mad at eachother & went their separate ways. 

I gave up on them and went to look for it myself…I switched on all the lights to make the room brighter and looked….under the table, moved the chairs, moved the computer table,  shifted their school bag…..nope nothing. I went back to making lunch thinking I’ll get back later.

After lunch I called the bus conductor and asked him to please, please keep an eye out for the earring while cleaning the bus [recently a neighbour found her daughter’s earring that way]. The sweet guy that he was he promised to look in the classroom also. I then got the broom and did a clean sweep. Suddenly I thought of something….earlier in the day when I had swept the whole house I remember hearing a faint metallic noise under the brush. I even looked into the dirt casually but there was nothing but dust and bits of paper.

As I walked towards the dustbin now I was thinking of my mum. I remembered an almost similar incident....once she was washing her earrings under the tap in the kitchen and one of them slipped through her fingers & fell into the sink. Her face crumpled and she burst into tears in shock. I consoled her and joked about searching in the drain pipe. She immediately rushed out of the back door and slipped open a grate half-way to the main pipe and made me pour water slowly through the sink while she blocked her end with something solid. 

I followed instructions but all the while I was making retching/puking/vomiting noises to show my disgust at my mother’s actions. I was thinking I’d rather let the earring go than go mucking in the drains. Nothing was worth that trauma…nobody will ever catch me doing nonsense like that;-/.

And there I was peering into the trash tentatively. People who can smell the stink already please jump to next to next paragraph. I was thinking vaguely ‘Atleast I hadn’t thrown the trash out for the day, so there is still a chance’. The 1st item encountered was a packet of fish remains which I gingerly picked up and moved into the other bin[which is usually for plastic/bottles, etc]. Almost immediately I saw the results of the morning sweep. Right underneath that was again a packet containing some left-over kubz. Aha…I was in luck. Meaning I didn’t have to search thru the whole trash. And even the morning sweep results were roughly wrapped in a paper.

By then I was quite certain I’ll find it. I gingerly pulled it out & placed it on a large newspaper and rifled through it. ‘What goes around will come around’ I was holding my breath and thinking irrelevantly. I remember my mum saying severely after the whole issue[because I was pulling her leg continuously] ‘You just pray it doesn’t happen to you’. She got her earring back in case you are wondering:-).

The Earrings...actually earstuds :-)
After around 2-3 minutes of repeatedly scrabbling in the dust I got the end bit of the earring. I don’t think I would have found it if I hadn't been sure. Rushed to show it to the better-half, he moved like 3 feet back in reflex action and looked at me admiringly like as if he didn't think I had it in me;-P. 

I never knew I’d do something like that myself;-D. 

I also called the conductor and told him to call off the search.

Yeah well anyway, I'm thinking maybe it was meant to be....

Like it was probably written somewhere that I had to scrabble around in the trash today;-P.

[The same way I was meant to beat the fridge up today...seriously I did. It was not working in the morning & things were beginning to defrost. I got upset and gave it a few whacks on the back. The better-half who checked it later just decreased the temperature & it started working again;-S.]

I haven’t decided yet whether I’m telling my mother about this incident. I can just picture my sister's & her reaction*insert Archana Puran Singh’s high-pitched laughter from Comedy Circus here*;-(

Do you have a similar incident in your memory…do share:-).

21 comments:

  1. lol N. you are a great mom, seriously, I'd have let it pass....

    wondering if Nikita agreed to wear the ring?:p

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    1. N&N have no clue where I got it from. Since the apple doesnt fall far from the tree I thought there was no need to ask for their reactions;-P.
      The back end is damaged so will not be able to use it till repaired. Not per se earrings...they are studs, earstuds...I put up a picture for u;-D

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  2. Ha ha. Well done N. Much impressed by dedication to the task, overcoming pungent odds, etc etc.

    But the way, do you really read Diary of a Wimpy Kid ?? Much impressed by your reading habits :):)

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    1. Hahhaaa....you knw the kids have started hiding these wimpy kids books from me[I had just found tht book while searching for the earring].
      Why???
      Because the protagonist's mother supposedly doles out terrible/horrible time-outs and punishments. N&N don't want me to read and get ideas from her;-P.

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    2. Apologies for the late comment. Catching up on your blog now :)

      Hats off to Ramesh's powers of observation! I was thinking I am great to have noticed it :) He obviously two steps ahead of me!

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    3. Ramesh is too good; besides the fact that his comments are a delight to read they are also layered...eachtime I read them I get another meaning out of it;-D

      No need for apologies Preeti...every comment from you however late are savoured:-)).

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  3. I can so relate that incident about your mom who went as far as she can to get the earring back, to my own parents.The generation of our parents valued money and gold more than us, who take most things for granted. Of course I wouldn't have taken pains to search in the drain if I lost an earring, because I'd be bothered about the stink than what I lost. Like how if we fell down on the road, looking around to see whether anybody saw us is more important than fracturing a bone. I have lost like 150 umbrellas and numerous stationery and other stuff in my school days, which annoyed my mother so much as she is the one person who never lost anything ever in her life and I had 2 hear that gyaan every time I lost something. In fact the gyaan was more painful than the loss. :-| Sorry to bore you so much, Nancy :D Awesome post.

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    1. I loved ur comment Anita....u just put in 150 plain/meaningful/insightful words what I took 3500 words to express;-P

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  4. OMG, I just relived that moment. This was when I was returning from my last B'lore/kerala trip with you guys. We flew in from kerala right? We had quite a bit of time for our bus in the evening. So we thought we might as well freshen up. And I thought of it after i left the airport. Anyway, there was a toilet complex outside. I do not wear my finger rings all the time.So I used the loo, washed my hands and was transferring the rings from the right hand to ummm..err.. the wrong hand (you know what I mean).I do it all the time. But this time, one diamond ring just fell through my fingers and started roling. I will it to fall flat on the grates of the gutter. But as luck would have it, it fell through. I must have turned white. Coz a worker, an old man, who saw me staring at the gutter, asked me if all was ok. I told him and he offered to look in for me. He scanned from the surface and was ready to give up. But me, with my xray vision, spotted it thru the green muck and pointed exactly where he should look. He did and I was right. He then went in and washed it and got it back for me. I was so grateful, I almost hugged him. But I paid him about 500 bucks for his efforts and smiled a smile as brilliant as my diamond!

    My God, I just wasted a post on a comment! :D

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    1. U told me about it but reading about it again still gives me the shivers.....u were darn lucky really;-o.
      Why dont still write abt it...all the mucky details....GROSSS:-D

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  5. Good job Nancy... are kids allowed to wear gold earrings at school.

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    1. We are advised not to send kids to school wearing gold but its not like a rule or anything. I have this artificial jewellery allergy so u get my reluctance abt letting them wear it;-P.
      But this incident has served as a warning ....have to check out some other option now;-(

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  6. I am so glad you found the ear ring and the stinky end to it...whatever we have hesitated to do as a teenager, now we do willingly as a mother, right ??? ;)

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    1. Hehe....I remember how I used to refuse to entertain the idea of washing baby bums....but now bbs are the least of our problems eh;-D.
      Now the kids are saying the same...they like babies so they'll stay somewhere close to me so that they can bring the baby to me when it poops;-D

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  7. Egad! One of my ear studs went down the drain that way too. Lucky u found that bit back atleast :P Imagine bearing all the stink and not finding what u were looking for too ;)

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    1. This is probably what happened....the back of the earring had probably worked itself loose the previous night or early morning. She went off to school with the front of the earring still on her ear. Fortunately for us she came back with it still pinned to the ear[seriously LUCKY];-o.
      While they were at school I cleaned the house & heard this faint 'scraping of metal' sound eachtime the brush dragged the dirt. I didnt bother then but later when I thought about it made sense. It was this sureity which made me go thru the trash. I was 'that' sure...and ofcourse pure luck also also helped;-D

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  8. Oh yes, have gone through the waste bin, luckily it was in my hostel room, so not much muck around. The only difference was I had wrapped it carefully in tissue and then thrown it into the bin. After some time I started looking for it and then got this uncomfortable feeling and rushed to save it :) Yes, I can be thaat absent minded ..

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    1. Sheesh....just in time huh.
      Actually reminds me of an incident when I threw a small cup of soapy water unthinkingly & realised a second later there were a pair of earring in there. Luckily I got them back*phew*.

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    2. @absent-minded...I can give u severe competition;-(

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  9. this reminded me of a story of mine in which case a gold necklace i had kept safely inside my shoe (yes, shoe!) was thrown out with the trash. years later someone found it hanging from a plant while working in that area..good memories.

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    1. Sheesh...ur story sounds fantastic;-o. But why shoe & how old were u???
      And ur story reminds me of another of my mum's gold related incident. She was doing her bed when her gold chain[which she had removed b4 going to sleep & placed under pillow] flew up and disappeared. She searched and searched but she never found it. It was a mystery. She knew for sure it was in the room but where. Finally after a few days I think she found it hanging on the topmost grill of the window;-D.
      Like u said....good memories;-D

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