During a review this reporter had to try out a few ice creams. Not sure of what one of the flavours were she asked the person at the counter what the Irish dip ice cream contained. He wasn’t sure either and asked his colleague who looked tense and whispered something into his ears. Finally, embarrassed, he answered in a hushed tone, "Ma'am…that's rum flavour!"
Requiem for a dream
The pen slipped from my grip. My eyelids felt heavy — I forced them to remain open. For the first time, I had to fight not to nod off on duty. A wizened lady was singing me a lullaby. The coconut trees, the soft breeze…for a moment, I forgot time and space. I was working on a story on lullabies. The thinnai in the village gradually filled up with more women who readily sang lullabies for me. Suddenly, one of them announced, “I will now sing my favourite song.” In a booming voice, she belted out an MGR hit! The song tore through the sleepy neighbourhood and startled me out of my reverie.
Cutting chai
Bragging is so hard when you work at a newspaper! After meeting the very hunky Bilal and Faisal from Strings, I gushed about how friendly they were. And how they both signed a CD for me. At which point an unimpressed colleague sniffed, “Big deal. They made ginger tea for me when I interviewed them.” Sigh. Trumped.
Erase and rewind
At a recent interview, this reporter decided to record the conversation because the interviewee was talking too fast. But when she went back to work and switched on the recorder, she could find no traces of the interview or any other recordings that she’d previously done. It was then that she realised she had pressed erase and not record.
