Neighbours are interesting .A source of entertainment sometimes .There was a Mrs Singh in Goa .whose only medium of communication was a mixture of English and Hindi in a truly desi form .Every day in the morning her conversation with my mom would comprise of the agenda for the day .
She would enumerate the dishes she made for breakfast ,followed by what she planned for lunch and about getting her two turban clad little terrors ready for school
It often went like this …
“Sat sri akal Ji !”
“Good morning !Had breakfast ?”
“Haan Ji ..made chappathies and bhaji . Get up at 5 ,Then get up .two children and husband .Then give bath and do kangi everyone .Then ready for school bus .Now make aloo gobi and parathas for noon .For chai today make tikkas .and you Behenji ..all work done ?”
Then it would be my mums turn .
Mum could understand most of Mrs Singh’s talk except for the daily dose of ‘doing Kangi’perplexed her .She took it for trips to toilet (part of mornings cleaning ritual) and often wondered why Mrs Singh should unfailingly mention it everyday
.It was a Sunday and all Mrs Singh mentioned was ‘Kangi Kiya’ .Mother dutifully asked after the health of both the kids, whether it was because of something they had eaten . Mrs Singh looked confused .Just then one of the terrors came running out with a comb in his hand demanding “Maa kangi karo”It was no wonder that’ doing Kangi’ was an important part of her daily routine coz both the boys had thick knee length hair …….and the ‘do kangi’ was cleared.
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