Monday, August 3, 2009

HOLE = HOPE

Having recently purchased a black leather belt, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it was too loose for my waist. The goody-goody guardian angel in my mind praised, “Maybe the tummy tyres have deflated a bit.” But the nasty devil in my subconscious said with a sneer, “Must have been an oversized man’s belt. Or a belt with manufacturing defects. Which explains why it was on sale. And what with the amount of ice cream you are hogging (during the break from work because of the ongoing teachers’ strike), fat chance you have of reducing all that tummy fat.”

I shooed the horned horror away and went to the friendly neighbourhood mochi (shoe-repairer) to get an extra hole drilled into the belt. The gentleman in question knows me quite well, courtesy my umbrellas with the broken sticks and my shoes with the broken straps. He asked me, “Kitney holes chahiye?” (How many holes do you want in the belt?).

Hesitatingly ambitious, I said, “Do bana dijiye.” (Make two extra holes).

Deftly poking new holes in the black leather, he aked, “Aur ek bana doon?” (Shall I make one more hole?).

Banishing a wildly improbable vision of myself with a clinched hourglass waist, I despairingly said, “Kya fayda? Do se zyada to lagnewala nahi hai kabhi.” (What’s the use? There is hardly any chance of me ever needing more than two extra holes in the belt).

Lifting his head from his work with a huge encouraging smile, the man urged, “Aas rakhney mey kya harj haye?” (What’s the problem in hoping?).

And so I agreed. And purchased MOTIVATION for the minuscule sum of two rupees. And returned home with a belt that has three extra holes to tighten around my waist. Three extra notches of hope that “YES I CAN...trim the tummy" (Sorry, Obama, for frivolously misapplying your slogan).

28 comments:

Swaram said...

Its so nice to see how u weave ur post arnd everyday happenings!

'purchased MOTIVATION for the minuscule sum of two rupees' - WTG!

sujata sengupta said...

wow!! I love your mochi..this reminds me of an annecdote. I had just delivered my boy and was at a darji with the hubby to make a few pairs of salwaar kameezes as the pre pregnancy ones were looking doll sized compared to my current stats. Being the hopeful kind that I am I was trying to peek in his record book to catch a glimpse of the inches, failing I asked my hubby, "dekho to koto" He said "ki ar hobe..shob i chollish er ghore!!"

Pinku said...

am grinning!!!

can u ask that guy to come and sit in my locality atleast twice a week??

Lazyani said...

Pleeeaassee send your mochi to me!!

Nona said...

:) Nice one! Hope your mochi has inspired you in cutting down the ice creams!

Aparna said...

The motivation was priceless! Why assign a value to it?

May be you should ask the mochi to address the striking teachers once. He will certainly keep the spirits high and encourage them to keep up their fight.

lopa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lopa said...

little encouragement goes a long way.we just need little dollops of hope from such good souls around us.indeed, it is priceless(aka Mastercard)!

JD said...

:-) just have another ice cream and forget the guilt..
liked reading this..

Deepanjan Ghosh said...

Hahahahahahaha!!! That is one awesome Muchi!!!

Supriya Dutta said...

Sweet moochi...and i hope i also get such a belt which needs to holed up for slimming waist lines rather increasing the number of holes at the other end of the belt!!!! :(

pradipwritenow said...

Before commenting on this I would like to say that few people can make a nice topic from very simple things. This topic is one of them.

Urmi said...

I liked this post very much.Its very simple as well as lovely and interesting.Really very sweet mochi.

manju said...

Haha! Nice story! That mochi is a philosopher!

Meira said...

errr... amen?:)

Vivek S Patwardhan said...

Enjoyed reading this post.:)

As for men, a very different thing happens. When the waist line increases, he starts wearing the trousers at lower level. As a result one feels [not the onlookers!] that the waist line has reduced. [All this happens gradually]. It makes him happy. But later he notices a rather extra fall on shoes and reality dawns!

Vivek

Alexi Frest said...

Lovely story!

It reminds me that my waist needs to be reduced.

Cheers,
Mina

workhard said...

HAHAHA..

That was funny.. a lil hope.....for 2 rupees...

Very well put..

Which reminds me.. i better start working on those love handles..


Work from home

Anonymous said...

Nice Mochi! I know the feeling dear. Lets be hopeful....

nituscorner said...

gives me an idea...am looking out for all the mochis in my colony. lol.

Anonymous said...

I liked your blog its good posting keep it up nice work!
Mumbai

ekta khetan said...

I loved the expression!!!
'purchased MOTIVATION for the minuscule sum of two rupees'

Sucharita Sarkar said...

@ ALL,

I solemnly promise to forward my friendly neighbourhood philisopher-mochi's e-mail address if I manage to get it, for anybody in need of moral support (or with any shoe in need of physical support).

And Vivek, thanks for the male insight, Will look at hubby's trouser-bottoms in a new light from now.

Roshni said...

good one!!

Sumandebray said...

purchased MOTIVATION for the minuscule sum of two rupees - very well said!

Me having hte smae problem of ever expanding Madhyapradesh ... but no amoung of motivation is doing any good.. need the real thing ... some exercise

Vasant Prabhu said...

Interesting thoughts, could imagine holding the belt close to my eyes. And lo behold, could see light at the end of the tunnel.

Suchismita said...

Any takers for a 'trim the tummy club'.?? I can be the charter member.Need it desperately. Then again it is not just the tummy!... the club sounds good though. we can keep each other 'posted' on our progress!! we can dedicate it to the mochi.

magiceye said...

loved this post!