Mylapore Mamies and MNC Negotiations (Chithra, Please Forgive Me)

Pls come to a firm conclusion about MM s and MNCs.. Looks like cat on the wall.. Me being a MM wanted to debate however you are to be sure of your opinions..

Its not only Chitra mam but all Mylapore supporters will be Rant you..

rgds
Uma

 

Dear Sridhar,

A nice light one after all the heavy writing you have been giving us.

Though I am not sure of MMs as I have not got the opportunity to interact with except one (?) I just cannot comment much on them. But in general of Madras Mamis I can do. They have an eye for precision and what elan they have when negotiating......... the shop keeper will be put to shame.

Do you know one of their traits, they will extract information from others so sweetly that we will be dumb fools not realising that we have let off all our secrets ( No Offence meant) i.e, the vambu......... specialised they are in this. Hence I dread these mamis you know but you have exceptions.......... Let me hide before somebody comes after me with a stick.:hide:

Sridhar this is news to me that Madurai mamas (MM) are good at haggling or kanja pisnaris.......:hide:Witsend

 

Dear Sridhar,
The question of forgiving does not arise between good friends! So, rest in peace – Oh, no, sorry if it is wrong English, but I meant – have peace of mind!!
Uma has perhaps written about her personal thoughts of getting Rant<?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75 stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" oreferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:formulas><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas><vath o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f"></vath><o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shapetype> with you. I don’t know, why she dragged my name!! :-(

You have really paid good tributes to MMs in patches like

typical, matured, balanced Mylapore Maami

MMs do it with grace and with elan. I have been mesmerised by the way they talk (and at times even by the way they look;

What more tribute can we ask for?
Once in his earliest posts to me in this forum, Cheeniya had written, that I am a typical MM – kolam potundu, shlokam sollindu, bakshanam pannindu !
Yes, I am all that + what all, you know!

Though old fashioned in our attire ( not wearing jeans, T shirts etc), our jewellery (typicl vairathodu, mookuthi etc), our thought process is comparable to our western counterparts.We are strongly rooted to our culture and respect our traditions a lot, inspite of modern younger generations in our families.
We do not haggle, but “negotiate” – why don’t you say, MNCs haggle or bargain?
We have never been career women and want to save for our spouses ever rupee of their hard-earned money. But we have the greatest compassion for a very old keeraikari and an elderly pookari – we just pay them more or whatever they ask for, knowingly because we are “dayaa roopaeNa” by nature.
If a hawker thinks he can take us “for a ride” we can be “rudra roopaeNa”.
As a woman, rather, experienced, mature, graceful woman, a MM has many facets!
Not only are you multi-faceted! We are, but in our own way!!:biggrin2:
Love,
Chithra.

 

Dear sridhar,
That was a wonderful post.But why mylapore mamis,why not mambalam mamis,why not ayanavam mamis.No I am not from mambalam or ayanavaram,the question was asked in a lighter vein.
While ladies are born with gift of haggling in an innocent naive manner ,making the shopwallah take pity on us and bring down the price where as some women actually put the fear of GOD in shopwallahs who try and cheat them.
You have described how you convince the autodrivers about the reasonable fare and they agree.Hats off to you.My husband gets tense even when I suggest that we take an auto because he feels they cheat a lot.His BP increases when somebody mentions auto.
About hagging rices,it was with surprise that I found my younger daughter who is at Mumbai ,the way she haggles.My God,the shopkeeper would say,"Rs.400,madam"and she would say,"No,I will give only Rs 200"and that would be the right price and they agree to give.
It takes guts also to haggle like that.I simply can not,no Iam not mylapire mami,Iam now,guindy mami,may be thats why.
Regards
mithila kannan

 

Sridhar,
Hats off ( or what we may call ...mmm) to MMs but in my opinion all the ladies in India do the same....maybe Mamas are not well-versed in this field, where we can take it as a pride...
bonkI couldn't understand the grapes...negotiating...too bad...

sriniketan

 

Dear Sridhar,
Whe it comes to Mylapore mami, being typically one myself, why not a share a few more thoughts?
Even more than 50 yrs back, the following song became popular:

Mylapore vakil aathu mattu poNNaven!
மைலாப்பூர் வக்கீலாத்து மாட்டுப்பொண்ணாவேன்!

I become nostalgic when I remember the good old Mylapore, where I entered as a young newly married bride, decades ago, – now, the same place has changed into a blend of tradition and modern! Dear old Mylapore is a land of eternal mysticism, of infinite smells and the typical old fashioned food flavour. Mylapore, one of Chennai's oldest pockets, a quintessential representation of the spirit of Chennai is a mix of tradition and modernity.
I would anyday prefer to be called Mylapore Mami & not Madras Mami.
You must visit Mylapore once in the monthof Adi, around any festival time, say, Varalakshmi Nombu or Vinayaka chathurthi or Gokulashtami.
You can write about haggling to your heart's content. But the charming combination of culture and tradition, modern trend not to be forgotten, (you can buy Ganesha with a mobile phone or operating a computer mouse) makes one than God for living in Mylapore.
One of my old friends who has shifted to ECR says, before festivals, she comes all the way to Mylapore, to shop around, mainly fot the "flavour" of it.
Though Triplicane, Mambalam, KK Nagar, Anna Nagar.... may all boast of their own mamis, we the "mylapore Mamis" are outstanding with our very name.
You wrote
Chithra, please forgive me.
My reply is
Sridhar, I thank you profusely!
Love,
Chithra.

 

Your arguments/interactions with the fruit vendor and the auto driver brought out peels of laughter! It brought back memories of R.K. Narayan's story -"Swaminathan"!(I am not able to recollect the exact title though the story is something in the lines- Swaminathan being the main character is a small boy whose father is not happy with his mathematics and the poor boy's trying times and his failure to understand his father's bargaining with a mango seller, where he defies mathematics! That was also a humorous one!)
Bargaining is a special skill. I am very poor at that! In fact I am like your grand pa! At least he had an excuse! He was hard of hearing. I simply get into their net by opening my big mouth and they pour out (or should I say spin yarns) sorrowful tales about their life and I end up paying more than they had actually asked! Once I took an auto rikshaw from Kellys to Shenoy Nagar. The fellow demanded Rs.70/- (Outrageous!) and I said it must be just a kilometer or 2 from my place and so I would pay Rs.40/- even though 30/- would be fair. The man trapped me with my first statement that Shenoy Nagar would be 4 kilometres! I said- Okay, switch on the metre and if the distance shows 4 kms, I would pay, what he had asked for! That man, by hook or crook made it happen! And I was 30 Rupees poorer. Had I kept my mouth shut, either he would have refused to ply me in which case I could have taken another auto or he would have agreed to my qoute, even though grumpy faced! now I never open my mouth even to bargain! If I feel the price is high or unreasonable, I just walk past!
Regards,
Malathi