"Are You Listening to Me?"

Christmas is behind us. Thank God. The decorations, the tree, all the festive holiday crap has been put away for another year. Buh-bye.

My favorite thing about this Christmas: I learned a new fun fact. I've known Alka for ten years now & I've learned a lot of things about the Indian culture, specifically about Gujurati people (the state Alka's family is from).

I was reading the book "The Namesake" by Jumpha Lahiri. The mother in the book doesn't call her husband by his first name. They are Bengali & there are many cultural differences across the country so, I asked Alka about Gujurati couples.

Gujurati married couples don't call their spouses by their first names. It's considered too intimate. You pretty much never see Indian couples kissing in public. PDA,public displays of affection are pretty much verboten. That's why you never see people kiss in Bollywood movies.

Roughly translated what you call your spouse is "Are you listening to me?"

"Are you listening to me? What do you want for dinner?"
"Are you listening to me? Change the channel."
"Are you listening to me? The house is in fire!"
"Are you listening to me? Are you listening to me?"

I'm like a kid with a new toy. Instead of calling my wife "sweetheart" or "lady", this weekend she was "Are you listening to me?" or "Can you hear me now?"

Alka thinks it's funny. For now. We'll see how long it lasts.

Amazing.