Whaaat?

Reading newspapers can be interesting. Ok Ok. I know most of us read the news online. Yes, you are all included in the group of 'newspaper readers' or should I use a misleading group title 'news readers'.

The stuff that one comes across in these newspapers, I mean the stuff that a'int news in the true sense but rather something that is good to know, i.e., not the stock market/political debate/legislation issues but the new technologies/latest gossip/research findings stuff... you get what I am trying to say right. So the other day, I came across this article that talked of lice clinics that charge around $300 per head to clean it up of lice! My memory actually went back to those days in the school bus when you were standing and you saw a lice crawl on someone's head and all you could think of is running away from that place. I was once told that the jasmine flowers were the root cause of the lice multiplication during summer and I did all I could to avoid the flowers whenever I could (wasnt it the humid climate actually!). We south Indians love the strands of flowers, esp jasmine, to dangle from our hair, come summer evenings, irrespective of the hair length. Anyways, this article was an immediate "whaat" moment - a moment where I take a step back from the newspaper and turn restless till I share it with someone.

Well, newspapers are just a category. The other day at the doctor's office, after a regular weight checkup, I said, "How is my weight looking? I had a lot of junk over the past one month and am wondering if it showing up there?" The doctor gave me a puzzled look and said, "Arent you a vegetarian?" Me, puzzled over the puzzled look,"Yes." "Ah. How much junk can you eat if you are a vegetarian. Rarely any... Isnt it all healthy" And it was my turn to explain the fattiness of Indian 'yummy' food, " Well, most of the tasty food is rarely healthy. And for us, most of the tasty food is either fried or made out of butter." Now, isnt that a "whaat" moment, when a doctor presumes that all the vegetarian food is healthy!

I must say all of us are sometimes an involuntary part of these "whaat" moments. Husband and I having been doing Spanish classes off late. When a lady from the class asked me, "Do you guys study together?", I misheard it as, "Do you guys stay together?" and immediately said, "Of course... as I said, we are married." When we got home, I asked my husband, "Why did she ask us that question?" And he said, "Well, whats wrong in asking if both of us studied spanish together." I am sure she must be blogging about this incident somewhere else as her "whaat" moment. If you happen to come across it, you know who the joke is on...