Friday, May 17, 2013

Neighbor Woes

This is more of a rant. K had been bugging the hell out of me to make my own dosa and idli batter ever since we got married. I didn't bother since Amma and my MIL would supply me every weekend. And then one day we happened to have a huge argument around it and I decided that enough was enough. I'd try to make my own batter. It wasn't rocket science according to all the zillion food blogs on the Internet. Except they all had measurements for making batter in a grinder whereas I was going to try mine on the mixie. That's when I decided I would ask my neighbor Maami who is very friendly. I met her one evening when she sat with 2 other ladies from the building. I greeted her and ranted about how K was being a pain and bugging me to make batter and how stressed out I was. One of the ladies had just moved into our building and "volunteered" to come home the next day and help me grind. I quickly said "No thank you so much for offering but I think I will manage". But she was pushy and Maami also insisted I take her help so I finally said ok. Next day she came home and very patiently made the batter and gave me tips on how to do it next time. I thanked her and gave her some juice. I thought she would leave then but no she went and perched herself on our couch. Sigh. This was going to be a long evening. She started talking about how hot it was in Chennai, how hot it especially was in the 4th floor, how she missed being in Coimbatore, Hyderabad etc. She just went on talking. Thankfully for me, K got back from work just then and she said she'd leave. Phew. Well the idlis and dosas came out very well. That weekend I decided I'd go inform her and take a little something. So I went with a dabba of cake. Spoke to her daughter for 5 min and got back home. 1 week later, around 8pm this lady rang the bell. I opened the door and she gave me the dabba. I took it and I was hoping she would leave because I was busy making dinner. She pushed her way inside(I swear she did!) and sat on the couch and start talking away. Then she got up walked into the kitchen, the service area and went on about how her house owner hadn't planned their house properly. Then she walked into the guest room, the balcony and again went on saying "Oh the woodwork in your house is so good". Then she had the bloody nerve to open the door to our bedroom, happily switched on the light, looked at each cupboard and the balcony and again kept cribbing about how their house had none of it. She asked me how rent we paid, what woodwork we had made, how much we paid for our TV. Oh god. She just went on and on and on. I wished she would shut up! Such an irritating lady. I wanted to ask her if she was so freaking unhappy with her house why on earth did she choose to live in it? K rescued me once again by coming home just then but this time she wasn't ready to leave. After about 20 minutes, she decided to leave saying "Ok I will leave, I don't want to disturb you". Oh really. I haven't had to see her after that. Thank God for small mercies. 

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