In my case, it's the neighborhood cleaners.
Nope, I'm not hard up for entertainment. But I do take the breaks where I find them.
So weekly trips to the cleaners it is. Once there, I'm greeted by a cheery young lady who goes by the name of Sooji. Now, I do not know Korean, but in Hindi it means something quite different. I can't help it, every single time my 'Hey Sooji', or 'What's up, Sooji' always makes me grin like a fool. She probably thinks I'm unusually friendly. (As as aside, I recently came to know that Maida is not an uncommon name in the UK).
Back to Sooji, though. She responds to my greeting, only she does one better. Her hhhhiiiiiiiii set to B minor, along with a full flash of pearly whites always gets the mood going.
After a promising start, begins the ritual of counting clothes. It's an art, I say, turning something as mundane as counting into a joyous experience. That too, when faced with laundry. 'Ona, two, three, foura, fiva, sixa, sevena. Ok', she announces happily, 'sevena shirta and fiva panta.'
Now, ready clothes are collected and credit card swiped. While we wait, comes the ubiquitious comment about the weather. Not original, I grant, but she's just being friendly. But this time she did it - committed the equivalent of a meterological faux pax.
'We having hot weather today, no?'
Today? Girl, this is the hottest July on record. You don't get out much, do you? Or is it the steama at the back of the shop that's made you immune.
Still, she's asked in such smiley, sing-song tones that it was hard to take offense. 'Yes, very hota, uh, hot'.
After the drawn out bye-bye (from her), I take my card and leave the store smiling. Nothing, even the hot weather - today - was gonna faze me now.
***
P.S: I discovered that in Korea, Sooji means the art of wellness. You, my friend at the cleaners, are most approapriately named.
6 comments:
ROTFLMAO!
My dry cleaner's name is Eulalia. I have no clue about her nationality except every time I walk in she goes, "Subhaaaaan!"
Speaking of names, what do you do when you have a boss named "Nada"? Each time she would call us for a meeting, I always had a smile on my face. And better still, "Tori" misspelled Linda as "Tinda" in her email :>) .... GE truly had "imagination at work".
Hmm, interesting combo, Priya. Eulalia is Spanish, no doubt, and Subhan I'm guesing is Arabic. At least that pairing produced great thorougbreds.
But that's another chain of thought, perhaps...
Hilarious Poojaa..Glad Nidhi shared your site with me..It's inspiring to a new blogger like myself..
I had an italian student last semester names Laura but not pronounced as Bush's wife. In fact she corrected me, saying I should call her Lauda..Guess she is grossly unfamilar with Hindi:))
check my blog out at anandilive.blogspot.com
be kind...just getting started on this..
C
Another good one! Reminds of of a person i once interviewed by the name of Joker and trained another by the name of "Second".....inspiration i guess came from satte pe satta..
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