in india, one is blessed to have the option to outsource certain mundane, trivial chores. ironing of clothes is one of these. damn! how much i miss it.
when I was in hyderabad, I used to walk to the ironing lady's shop, that was couple of streets away from my home, to drop clothes. the following day i collected the clothes minus the wrinkles.
on my first visit to this shop, I was unwelcome-d by a 5 year old kid who was standing at the shop's threshold. upon seeing me, he ran into the shop, stood at a distance, and stared. i gave him a smile, and a wink. no change of expression on his face and he continued to stare.
the kid welcomed me the same way on my next visit. my broken telegu, like "ikkada ra…" (come here), peter-english-hi, didn't help.
on the third visit, he garnered some guts ( I dunno from where!), and walked up to me. i smiled. his stare had now metamorphosed into an awe.
the kid set his head in a pendulum motion, and starting at my knee began to raster scan me. as his eyes reached mine, he stopped, sighed, and exclaimed, "enthaa...bedha manishi!". (what a big human!)
