Saturday, July 28, 2007

They saw, read.

If you thought I’d buried myself underground because my parents now know about my blog, well, you’re kinda right. I’ve also been moonlighting as a Singapore tourist guide and have had no time to drop by the bar at all! Finally, here I am, with the sequel to the last post.

Though Dad uses a computer at work, he's not very good at it (he keeps one finger of his left hand permanently stationed at the shift key, while one finger from his right hand does the actual typing). And, he makes statements like "Your mouse cable is too short. I can't move the cursor from one end of the screen to the other." Also, since he only uses the computer for his office email, he doesn't know very much about the Internet. Mom, on the other hand, is absolutely hopeless with the computer (I taught her how to double-click and it was, as Neil Armstrong once said, "One small step for man, one giant leap for Sayesha's mother.")

Basically, I didn't quite know how to introduce them to the blog without making it such a complex procedure that they give up in despair. So I created a desktop shortcut to the Label ‘Meet the parents’ (nothing involves a reader more than to read about himself!) to start them off, and asked them to read it after I’d gone and hidden my face in my office. I’d also set up a gmail account for Dad and told him he could email me at work. Now Mom's not very expressive (until I ask her "Do you like it or not do you like it or not do you like it or not?" a million times over and she's forced to say that she does, just to shut me up) but Dad does give me his opinion on things, and I was dying to know his reaction to the blog.

So I get the first email from him in the middle of a crazy work day.

“If I email you, won’t it disturb your office work?” He'd written.

Sheesh. So I assured him that it wouldn’t as I’d only attend to his email in between my tasks.

Finally he replied with what I’d been waiting for – his reaction to the blog. “The pieces (he likes to call the posts 'pieces') are very nice and readable!” He wrote. He told me which ones he found hilarious, which ones serious and which ones thought-provoking. And then came the much dreaded question.

"Why didn’t you email them to me earlier??” he wrote.


Errrmmm...

“Uhhh… I couldn’t email them to you, because there’s like 500 of them!” I replied. (Oh wait, that just made it worse, didn't it?)

Anyway, he asked me where the 500 were, and I told him he could read them by clicking on the archives links on the right side of the page.

When I came home that evening, he was still engrossed in reading. I went close to see which one he was reading. To my utter surprise, he was on Iday’s blog! Holy cow, that was fast reading! Had he read all 500 of mine and then gone on to read all the blogs on my blogroll??

So I asked, “Dad, what are you doing?”

“I am reading your archives like you'd asked me to. But you sound very different in this one.”

ROFL!

“Dad, that’s not my blog!! That’s my friend’s blog!!!!”

“Oh!!!!!!! No wonder! I didn’t quite know what you were talking about in this one!”

ROFL!

Over the last few days, they have been going through the archives and thankfully, have not been too shocked or scandalised. It was just a bit difficult to explain to them why I call this place a bar, and what I mean by 'bewdas got fultu talli' after each post. Recently, Dad also gave me detailed comments on how I could improve my writing, just like Mom gave me detailed comments on how I could improve my cooking. Errm, not very happening stuff to listen to, but as parents like to say, "it was all for my own good".

But the best part was when he was going through some of my blog titles and said, "Now that is a wordsmith's work."


Holy cow. :O

You see, the only person my Dad ever uses the term 'wordsmith' for is Bachi Karkaria, the Times Of India columnist. Dad is a huge fan of hers, and even though he likes many other columnists, he says Bachi is the only true 'wordsmith'. I've read her and she's absolutely brilliant. And now he had used "THE WORD" for me! Woohoo! Actually it's WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

Move over, Bachi, cos I'm the real (inhouse) bachi! Muahahaha!



34 comments:

Di said...

:) GOLDDD!! and congrats!! dunno if i'll ever show my parents my blog!! :O

Unknown said...

SILVERRRRRRRR
DI, you took away my gold ka chance x-( Dekh loongi :P

Now lemme read n get back :P

Tejal said...

BRONZE!!!! yeayy!!

Tejal said...

Cool. Must b something else being the new Wordsmith. heeh :) Bhai must b soo Praaaaoooddddd :D Congrats haan.
i kinda let my mom read the posts which i want her to read and take spl care that she doesnt read the comments section. Thats wher most of the 'action' is ;)
btw, wen r u updatin your blogroll?? *eyelash flutter flutter*
hint hint :P

Unknown said...

Awwww. The last line said it all :D
Now ask them to write a guest post. Your readers want it :D

And yeah, please ask your mom to put in her best recipe in her post too ;)

Iday said...

Holy cow!!! So that's how i get "featured" :D

So Ms.wordsmith, did unkal say anything my poor blog???

Bivas said...

And which 'piece' maed u the wordsmith ;-)

Unknown said...

Congo for the 'Wordsmith' title :)

And teaching parents how to use a computer is one hell of a task!!

Thisisme said...

hahahhaa..move over bachis n the like..sashbhai ka adda hai yeh :D
n bhai...u taught ur mom to double click :O !!..apun ko 2 saal ho gaya..apun abhi tak start ke button tak mouse leke jaana sikhaya maa ko..uske aagey click karne ko kaho..toh unhe lagta hai bomb phut jayega...so its still a yet to be taken giant leap for my mom :P
congrats bhai!!

Sayesha said...

#Di,
Hehe... maybe you will some day... I never thought I'd ever do it! :P

#Rebellion,
:D

#Tejal,
Hehehe! My folks actually read some of the comments! :P

//btw, wen r u updatin your blogroll?? *eyelash flutter flutter*
hint hint :P

Holy cow, you are right! It's high time I did that! Sorrriieee! :P

#Rebellion,
Guest post from Mom and Dad? Hahahaha! It will take them a million years to type it out! :P

#Iday,
Ahahahaha! I think your Unkal was confused about "the last day at work" and "going to Chicago" bit! Socha hoga beti ne kya kya chhupaya! :D

#Bivas,
No particular piece... he was just browsing the titles on the right column trying to decide which ones to read, when he said that. :)

#Sanket,
Thanks! :)

//And teaching parents how to use a computer is one hell of a task!!

Tell me about it! :D

#Thisisme,
Ahahahaha! I know what you mean... sometimes I wonder when I'll reach the right-click stage... abhi ek chhote se mouse ne pareshaan kar rakha hai Mom ko! :P

Sreejith said...

Priceless stuff... reminds me of how i taught amma how to compose emails but not how to read replies :D A bit like Abhimanyu and Chakravyuh. She was mighty pissed off that i didn't acknowledge her mails!

creepa said...

ailaa..wordsmith ;) ..congrats re!

And abhi itna tareef suna uncle aunty ka toh ek guest 'piece' to maangta ich hai naa bhai!
pleaseeeeeeee *makes an innocent face* :P

Regards.

Amit said...

Bewdas got talli has been stealthily converted to Comments, eh? :D

Angelsera said...

hehe..cool!
round of orange juice for our Wordsmith!

Unknown said...

this is becoming an increasingly disturbing trend. parents of my co-bloggers are reading their blogs and through that, may end up on my blog! *gulp*

p.s: namaste unkal & aunty. :p

Lady Godiva said...

your parents sure are fun :-)...woah!!!

Sudipta Chatterjee said...

Yeah... compliments from such close people always mean a whole lot more, don't they?

Waise I'm on the Hum Blog Roll of bhai?? Kya baat hai... aare apun gang mein shaamil ho gaya re!!! DHISHHKAAUN!! :D

Nidhi said...

Too cute!!! :)

GuNs said...

Congrats and LOL on the "Mouse cord too short" gag. I once told my dad "DAD! Double clicking faster will NOT make the computer explode.".

It is one of the mysteries of the universe why parents and technology are at such odds to each other. They can do just about everything else better than us BUT computers (and mp3 players and mobile phones etc.).

-PeAcE
--WiTh
---GuNs

How do we know said...

Yoo Hoo!

COngratulations!

Sayesha said...

#Sreejith,
Hahahahaha! Weird coincidence - just yesterday we were talking about Abhimanyu and chakravyuh! :)

#Creepa,
Ab bas kar! He may just take you up on that offer! :P

#Amit,
Hainn?? Nahin toh! It's still bewdas got fultu talli! You think I will change anything here because my folks know about it? Naan sense. :D

#Angelsera,
Thanks! :P

#Ipanema Gal,
Ahahaha! That's why nicknames rock! :D

#Lady Godiva,
Hehehe... yeah! :)

#Sudipta,
Hehehe... haan re... bahut dinon se blogroll update nahin kiya tha... Tejal ne hint mara toh I thought chalo let's do it! :P

#Nidhi,
Thanks! :)

#GuNs,
Hehehehe... I can so totally identify with the double clicking part! :D

#How do we know,
Thanksss! :P

Unknown said...

Another awesome post!

Unknown said...

Oye! Uncle aunty ko kam mat samjho! Sashbhai ke mom-dad hai yaar ;)

Just tell them, the guest post is a trend, a compulsive one :P I'm sure it'll come up in a day or two :)

Neihal said...

:D

now that you are the new bachi wordsmith accept my congratulations :D

Lady Godiva said...

BTW, I forgot to congratulate you Miss. Wordsmith :-)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Iday said...

//Socha hoga beti ne kya kya chhupaya! :D
hahha :)
Good thing he dint call up viv to convene an emergency crisis solving meeting :P

Unknown said...

Singapore tourist guide....Way to go Sash! Wonderful. :-) Kya baat hai.

Dad ka compliment is ekdum sahi.
I'll pay closer attention to Bachi now that Uncle's a fan :-).

Sayesha said...

#Chirag,
Thanks! :)

#Rebellion,
Hahaha! :D

#Neihal,
Thanks! :)

#Lady Godiva,
Thanks! :)

#Iday,
Ahahahaha! Can only imagine Viv's confused expressions! :D

#Harshi,
Thanks! :)

Iday said...

//Can only imagine Viv's confused expressions! :D
What confusion???
Viv wud be like... "What? She's going Chicago?!?!?! PARTEEEEEEEEEEEE" :P

abhartiya said...

hmm..interesting read there!

my dad's gonna get an internet connection too in his office :P...
temme...how did your dad even come to knw that you write??i mean how did he know that you have blogs and all??

Sayesha said...

#Iday,
Waaaaaaaaa! :'(

#wacko,
Simple. I told him. :P

Iday said...

//Waaaaaaaaa! :'(
Ro math, ro math.
rone wali tujhe dekhkhe, dar se viv jaldi jaldi kahi chal jayega ;)

--Sunrise-- said...

"ROFL!" indeed... :D :D Awwww! Congrats to you! :)

Sayesha said...

#Iday,
:/

#Sunrise,
Thanks! :)