Oh My Darling…..

I am reminded of one funny incident that took place while I was working in a bank. One day one lady came to my desk for some transaction. For some verification purpose I questioned her to state her husband's name. She turned so coy and hesitant. I was in my early twenties, unmarried and hence had no clue what was going on. When I asked her what the matter was, she hesitantly said how to take husband's name. I was amused and insisted and she whispered his name. Now when I am married and much older, I think about it and feel it was charming. Of course in my house too my grandmother would never say grandpa's name. In fact I have never heard them call each other by name or substitute word. They make the sound aa/eh(like the sound one makes when one didn't hear something).. and the other comes to know that they are being addressed.
On the contrary, my mom calls my father by name. When my marriage was fixed, my granny instructed me not to call dh by name. Bound by love for her, I am following that till date. It is very nice because you get unexpected funny situations in life, trying to come up with innovative ways to get the spouse's attention. Once I asked MIL, where is my athukarar(husband). She replied with eyes twinkling, " your athukarar and my athukarar have gone shopping." It was so funny.

Another point is, if the wife wants to refer to some person who has same name as her husband, she can't say it at that time also. Instead they say something like, husband peyar udaiyavar..which translates as one who has my husband's name!