A funny thing I remember
I went to a village near Attock, I forgot the name but it was a beautiful place. We had to stay there for 9 days for a wedding, those 9 days are good memories. Given i have never stayed in a village, this was definitely a change. So we went there in late December winters. SInce i was not used to this weather, my legs used to shiver crazily. I would cover myself with layers of clothing and wrap myself with dad’s shawl ( best shawl ever).
Anyway this is about a very funny joke so just lets write that and put a smile on your face. So in Attock there is a culture of exchanging Salams with everyone and it is considered rude if you don’t do so. Another is about hearing stories from the elderly at Dera ( a place where people gather and talk random stuff). So we were there at one Dera, on a cold night, all wrapped and sitting closely to the bonfire listening to one uncle’s story. Uncle was in his early 60s, with a lively face and broad smile. He has too many stories to tell but the one i remember and is a little funny goes like this,
“Beta I used to work on a lot of ships and have travelled almost every part of the world. There are too many things to see, and there are too many lovely people to interact with. Food is an issue cause we don’t get the taste like here anywhere. I didn’t know English, but just said yes yes to every question and got in through a reference in cargo shipping.
So on my first day at the ship, I was roaming around, getting to know what is what. Suddenly I saw my Captain pointing at me and asking me to come to him. Captain was a Britsher with a thick accent and here was me who knew nothing about English. He just said one line to me, ‘Hey you, go bring me a manual quickly’. I nodded yes but did not know shit about it. The only thing I remember was QUICK. So I started looking and asking for something QUICK. Where is quick? Where is quick? Nobody knew what I was asking about, So after an hour, I found my counterpart Pakistani worker and asked him, ‘Yaar Nasir where is this quick?’. Nasir said, ‘what quick?’, i replied ‘Captain is asking for something Quick , i am not able to to find it. Nasir said, ‘Tell me exactly what did he say’. I said,’I don’t remember much, but he said something like bring me a manual. Nasir burst into laughter, he got red and was laughing on the floor. I was clueless as if I had told him the joke. After a minute, Nasir told me what does the sentence meaning and my reply was ‘DOR FITTE MO. (Facepalm is the closed translation)’”
THE END
