WHAT IS MURPHY DOING ON MOTHERS’ DAY?
I was surprised
to see my friend Velu Naickar's wife ringing the door bell at 6.45 in the morning…. Though they stay close by, seldom do they
visit my place, for both of them work into late evenings, and on a Sunday
morning, I wouldn’t expect them to be up so early. All the more because of the
sun staying in the vicinity of century plus for last couple of days.
She had come to
collect the spare key from the servant maid. She was in a hurry. Both her hubby
and she didn’t have the main door key, and the maid has locked and left. Luckily
she knew she could locate her at my place. Her mother was apparently sleeping
inside, but not responding to the calling bell, or door banging, or even the
telephone calls by both of them. She was worried there could be something
seriously wrong – not on Mothers’ Day, she hoped.
Problem was, both
had ‘assumed’ that the other had the key – once again, putting the proverbial ‘ass’
in front of ‘u’ and ‘me’ ( ass/u/me ), and some tense moments followed. End result?
Murphy making his presence felt, once again. If anything CAN go wrong, it WILL.
We were talking about ‘Mothers’ Day’ and let us put our friend, Murphy aside,
for a while……… Close on the heels of ‘May Day’, we have ‘Mothers’ Day’ today,
and tomorrow is ‘Akshaya Trithiya’ Day.... ‘Akshar’, or ‘Akshay’ means, that
which doesn’t decay, or doesn’t erode. (Remember, Akshar dham?) Probably,
Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Uncles, and Aunties will have their days very
soon, just as every dog having his day. That reminds me. The other day, I was
trying to understand how the dog had its day, after all?
Google will give
you the answer thus. Go to the link below:
So where did the saying “Every dog has it’s day” or “Every dog
has his day” come from? I did some research and
found the phrase is over 450 years old. It became popularized from Hamlet by
William Shakespeare in the early 1600′s. However, there are various forms
of it that originated earlier.
The meaning of the quote in our current era, “Every dog has its
day or every dog has his day” is very simple. It means everyone gets a
chance eventually; or that everyone is successful during some period in their
life. (Example: Don’t worry, you’ll get chosen for the team. Every dog has its
day. You may become famous someday. Every dog has his day.) This is from the
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
Or, if you are a Yahoo
devotee, you may go to this link
EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY - "According to the medieval Dutch scholar
Erasmus, the saying came about as a result of the death of the Greek playwright
Euripides, who in 405 B.C. was mauled and killed by a pack of dogs loosed upon
him by a rival. Thus the saying is usually taken to mean that even the most
lowly person will at some time get revenge on his oppressor, no matter how
powerful the man may be. The Greek biographer Plutarch recorded the proverb for
the first time in 'Moralia' (A.D. c. 95) rendering it as 'Even a dog gets his
revenge,' and Richard Taverner included the first version in English - 'A dogge
hath a day' - centuries later in his 'Proverbs' or Adages' (1539).What was
virtually the modern form appeared in John Ray's 'A collection of English Proverbs'
(1670) as 'Every dog hath his day'." From "Wise Words and Wives'
Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk
Sayings Old and New" by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New
York, 1993).
Call it habit,
addiction or whatever, I can’t help bringing in my observations during my daily
ritual – the morning walk at my favorite Elliots Beach shores. This morning, I
was amazed to see a decent – looking, affluent elderly lady parking her car by
the pavement side, and start fondling, and caressing an old, sickly dog. This went
on for quite a while. She was not mindful or bothered about the quizzical looks
of morning walkers. You should have seen the ‘nirvrithi’ kind of feeling
exhibited by the dog. Perhaps, he must be mumbling, “Just as you have your day,
I too have my day…”
Obviously, this dog wasn't 'that' dog...
(Wagging) Tail piece:
Later, I called up my friend Velu (full name, Veluchamy Mayandi Naickar) to enquire what happened. I call him Naickaree..... or some times Nai, fondly. Generally soft - spoken, he barks even at me, some times.. He said there was no probs, and everything was fine. he was having breakfast, said they had their favorite 'hot dogs' today, being Sunday.
"Howz ur job, n howz ur boss?" I asked.
"Nai pozhappu daa (Dog's life)"
"Why?"
"Arre, he is too dogmatic yaar. typical dog in the manger case. neither he will do, nor will allow me to do...."
"What happened to ur promotion?" I quipped.
"Disgusting, man! You know this is a dog eating dog world, u know"
THIS WAS GETTING TOO FAR.... I WANTED TO PRESERVE MY THINNING HAIR (OR WHATEVER IS LEFT OF IT).
So, I hung up, bidding good bye to the dog, sorry, to my friend......
Enjoy......................
a n a n d . . . . .
for ever..........
for ever..........
Friendship isn't about who you have known the longest.
It's about who come and never leave your side.
It's about who come and never leave your side.
