Thursday, January 11, 2007

Multiple uses of incense sticks

As I had blogged earlier, I grew up in a family with sisters and we had no brothers. Typical to Indian families or families in general, there was absolutely no cussing in my parent’s home or around us. When I was about five or six, I was walking home from my school bus stop with my servant and I heard some random person on the street call out his friend’s name and they greeted each other by saying “Hey Mother*****” in Marathi. A child’s memory is like a sponge so I picked up the word and I tried it out by greeting my older sister “Hey Mother******, without realizing what it meant. My older sister was around eleven years old at that time and although she didn’t know what that word meant….she was old enough to know that the word was taboo. So she did what any self-respecting older sibling would do, by telling my parents what I had uttered. My parents called my name in a very stern voice which spelled trouble and asked me where I had heard the word. I told them where I did and they told me to never repeat it again.

My mother also threatened that if she ever heard me say this again she would burn holes in my tongue with incense sticks. Now before you call child service let me tell you that my parent’s are all talk and they are in fact very gentle and incapable of any violence. Of course we sisters were too timid to challenge them! They would sometimes threaten, “Do your homework or else?” Sometimes as a child I was tempted to ask what the “else” would entail. Since I am a strong believer in the proverb discretion is the better part of valor, I never implemented my thoughts into action.

This morning I accidentally slipped on the kitchen floor and banged my head against the cabinets. My forehead sustained a bruise and a cut. My reaction was an involuntary f-word, when the pain caused my brain to explode. Ironically at that time I was getting ready to do my morning prayers, which are certain chants in Sanskrit, and was just about to light incense. I wondered how my mother would react today, were she to hear me say this.

Anyway that reminded me of the time I heard the F-word for the first time. Namita Gokhale had published her novel “Paro: dreams of passion,” when I was probably in the sixth grade. I read her interview in one of the magazines where she said that she didn’t think what the deal was about using the F-word in her book or something to that effect. I was curious and looked it up in the Oxford Dictionary and didn’t find an entry. So I asked one of my wise classmates if she knew what it meant and she replied that it was slang for the word “Gender.”

14 comments:

karmic said...

Ouch @forehead! Hope it is ok now.
lol@funny definition of the f-word.
I use it once in a while under my breath or dont say it aloud. I also use it when I may be a bit upset about something.

karmic said...

I can't recall where I first read/ heard about the word though.

magiceye said...

reminds me of what one of the Beatles had once said...repeat the word a hundred times and then suddenly yu realize its just another word! no big deal.
also read some explanation that if cuss words were to be banned languags would die!
lovely f*****g post!

Lotus Reads said...

Great post, Sai! I have to say that's a novel use of incense sticks! ;) I have some sitting right here, maybe I could use them to threaten my two monsters! :)

Like Sanjay, I can't remember when I first came across the word. I hope your forehead's feeling better!

FH said...

Hope you have recovered from the fall in one piece!Obviously yes!!:)

Never used it until I came to America and now, yeah! Sometimes!! But I don't like myself when I do!

Sai said...

@Sanjay: Forehead is ok! I am very particular as well about blurting it out and seldom say it out loud.

About my wise classmate, she married very young and her oldest is a teenager. Last time I met her I asked her if any of her girls asked her what the F-word meant. She and I couldn't stop laughing at our naivete.

@Magiceye: LOL to "if cuss words were to be banned languags would die!"

@Lotus: I don't know if the incense threat would work because I am not sure if today's generation would respond like we did.

@Asha: Yes I have recovered in one piece.

I hate using any cuss words myself. I think it all goes to being taught since childhood about words vibrating and whatever you say comes back to you!

Sugarlips said...

Awwww I hope you are feeling
better *HUGS*
A nice post asusual :)
I happened to ask my Khala(Massi)
about F*** word lol & in return when I got one of her smoldering looks so I realized I've chosen a wrong person so I ask this ;)

Stay Beautiful...!!

Sai said...

Hey Sugarlips:
I am feeling well, thanks. Hey I do know "Khala" means "massi." Yes, not a right person to ask meanings of certain words ;-)

Dan said...

My mother also threatened that if she ever heard me say this again she would burn holes in my tongue with incense sticks.

Ouch! I don't even want to curse anymore after hearing that!

Hey! Did you hurt yourself badly? I hope you are doing better. Hugs.

Sai said...

Dan:
Thanks...no it's not so bad now.

LOL...see the many uses of incense sticks...and you thought Hindu's and Buddhist used incense only for worship....BTW I am glad that my mother doesn't read my blog. I should have asked my mother what fragrance she would use to do burn holes in my tongue....sheesh hind sight is always 20/20 ;-)

Lisa Johnson said...

So sorry about the fall! Glad you are doing better. This is such a funny post! Totally not what I thought I was going to read about. I don't remember the first time I heard the F word, but I do remember the first and only time I heard my father use it.

My parents were really strict growing up. My father was and is on a semi-retired basis an English teacher. He was constantly correcting my grammar and no swearing was allowed.

One day he was driving me to work. I was a teenager, but was not driving yet. Someone cut him off and he dropped the F-bomb! I couldn't believe it. I've never heard either of my parents swear except for that one time.

Sai said...

@Anali:

I am fine now. LOL to your story! I have a similar one when i heard my dad cuss, that too when K and I were driving with him in India. More than me K was shocked! I was more amused than shock because I remembered the incense incident.

Sornie said...

AH, yes. That first time dropping the f-bomb before you knew what it meant. Priceless.

Sai said...

LOL...in retrospect it seems rather funny!