A pinch of salt??

I have a friend who is quite well known for asking questions in a rather strange manner. We used to say that he 'explains' his questions. Whenever he asked something it was usually so long drawn that we would mostly occupy ourselves with something else until he finishes asking. I was thinking about him the other day and realized, well at least his questions had answers.

I have come across questions, which do have answers, but are asked in such a way, more often than not, you don't know what to say.

One of my friends recently asked me ' Why don't you laugh at my jokes??' . A straightforward answer to that would have been ' I don't find your jokes funny. And if you ever catch me laughing at your jokes, you can safely assume I'm laughing at you.' But, how can you say that to someone??? I got out of it by making myself look stupid. I said ' Your jokes are so high funda, I don't get them most of the time'. Damaging to my ego, satisfying to his. Definitely not the way to go :D

Another friend of mine once asked me while I was eating ' How come you are so fat when you eat so less??' Fortunately, I choked on my food at the same time and did not have to answer that.

The most common question I used to get was ' which school/college are you in??' One kid took it a bit too far, he asked my cousin ' aunty ee akka 7th class a??' (is she in the 7th standard?) , I stood there gaping at the kid. He looked at me a little longer and said ' 8th class a??' . I was 21 and never visited my cousin again :)

And of course there is the regular tirade of questions most of us have to put up with ' when will you get married?' , ' party kab hai (for any and every occasion)' , 'What are you doing here? (at a shopping mall / movie theater)', ' Are you busy (like I would tell you if I were not)' I get through

all this with a pinch of salt. Being sarcastic helps too, as long as you are dealing with someone who understands it.

I leave you with a quote from sheldon cooper ' Bazzinga!!'

My stranger

Sitting by the lake , enjoying the cool breeze,

I watch the sailing boats and the lovely birds,

but why do I get a feeling,

That I am being watched?

I turn around and I see no one

Though I still feel an eye on me,

From the corner of my eye,

I see a man, A stranger,

Tall, dark and handsome.

His deep voice is like music

as he walks by and says hello.

He sits by my side and talks to me,

no track of time, unaware of people around,

I am lost , as if in a trance,

He reminds me of a centaur,

wild and untamed one moment,

suave and charming the other.

Even in a crowd , he smiles at me,

Lost in the crowd, he worries me

He comes close to me and whispers in my ear

'close your eyes, and let the magic unfold'

One little blink is all it took

there was no lake, no birds, no boats,

no stranger smiling down at me.

I lay alone on my bed,

shaking my head for being a fool.

days have passed but I still wonder,

was it just a dream,

coz I still feel watched, I still see his shadow,

I still smile in a sly way, when someone questions my rosy glow.. :)