What She Said

I had been feeding a brahmin ("bummen") once a month since my husband died. But one day the bummen didn't come, and we couldn't eat till he had eaten, and the food was ready, everyone was sitting with their heads in their hands, hungry, all the children back from school, but everyone knew they couldn't eat before the bummen, so they kept quiet. This went on and on, and then I remembered the saying, "A daughter's son is the equal of 1,000 brahmins." So I called Arun at his office, and first they said, "He's busy", but I said, "It's his grandmother, call him quickly." So they did, and I said, "You have to come home right now, and eat, and then go back to work." So he did, and we all ate. Then after two hours the bummen came, and I had to give him money to buy food and send him away. So I decided I wouldn't feed the bummen at home anymore, because he caused too much trouble by not being on time. I would give him some money and be done with it. But the next month, my son didn't know about my decision, so he went and called a bummen to come and eat, and he showed up when I wasn't ready, and I had to apologise to him, and give him money and say forgive me, I can't feed you any longer.