Alright. So the kids are outside playing, I’m sufficiently
caffeinated, and I’ve managed to avoid the never ending game of spider solitaire
that usually gets in the way of writing. I have another fun India story for
you. Hopefully you’ll find it as entertaining as I did.
I was reading my trusty Times of India paper and not The
Hindu the other day (because the newspaper man must be asked at least 4 times
before I get the correct paper on a consistent basis, but that’s a story for a
different day) as I was sipping my morning coffee. This is quite the routine of
mine and I do it pretty much every day, along with checking what blogs I can
remember I used to follow. This day, however, I was behind on newspapers for 3
days. I settled in to plow through them all at once. My housekeeper Indira was
here and was in the kitchen washing the dishes.
I was nicely reading some unimportant clip about Bollywood
drama when the paper started buzzing. I’m not talking barely there vibrations
from a fan or my imagination, I’m talking cell phone/adult toy type vibration
level. I sat there for a moment dumbly looking at the paper thinking that
papers are definitely NOT supposed to vibrate. Then the thought came to my mind
that perhaps a rogue bee/wasp/hornet zilla had become stuck inside the paper
somehow. We all know how much I love the bees.
I immediately did the most logical thing possible and threw
the paper across the room. The vibrations stopped, so I went to investigate. I
gingerly lifted one page at a time, ready to make my escape should an angry,
sting-ey insect come out looking for vengeance. I found nothing, so I figured
he had tumbled out of the paper and was waiting in some dark corner under a piece
of furniture planning his next attack.
I grabbed the paper and sat down again to read. No one
should be at all surprised that the paper started buzzing again. I of course
let out a small shriek and threw the paper again. Indira came into the room
concerned that there was something actually wrong with me. I of course was
standing there like a cartoon with my hand over my mouth, embarrassed that I
was screaming like a little girl about something I hadn’t even seen. I again,
slowly sorted through the pages. When I got to the back, the paper started buzzing
like mad on the floor. In the middle of the page long advertisement was a small
black device. We figured out that it was light sensitive (which was why it
turned on when I had the paper open, but not on the floor) but couldn’t really
figure out why it was there. It seems like a super expensive, hassle worthy
advertising trick, but I couldn’t figure out any other reason for it.
So. Indira had a good laugh about my imaginary bees and I
sheepishly went back to enjoying my coffee.
Well played newspaper advertisement – you definitely got my
attention, even if I didn’t buy that car.
Becky
