Page 20 - Masala Lite Issue 161 May 2024

House Cook Does Not Come Back to Work From because I walked in holding Sanjay’s
Day Off hand so they definitely saw that.” The
couple chose to stay on for dinner
SUKHUMVIT – A small family were scrambling to but requested a table in the back
prepare their own meals when their new cook failed and cannot confirm if they enjoyed
to show up to her job without any notice. Shruti Kapoor, themselves.
a 31-year-old working mother,
had just hired the helper about Auntie Who Thinks She
one month ago and believed Got a Good Deal Finds
everything was going fine. “I don’t Out Otherwise
An unreformed party girl and mother understand what happened,” YAOWARAT – Bindu
of two,writer, editor and observer she recounts. “She went for Rajpal, 56, left the fabric
Sumati Huber tries to her weekend holiday as store feeling pretty
make sense of our unique normal. But then she fantastic about herself
Thai-Indian society and the aunties didn’t return or answer last Thursday. She
that she will one day become. any of my phone calls. had managed to
Why couldn’t she inform
me that she would not negotiate a THB
be coming back?” The busy 200 discount per
If Our Problems Made the News… mum will currently be yard of cloth in
spending her free time searching for a replacement order to make
Local Woman Feels Annoyed at Hair Salon while the cook could not be reached for comment. new curtains for her house. When sharing the good
news with her friends who came over for chai and
PHROM PHONG – Staff at a beauty salon were left Secretly-Dating Couple Runs Into Other Indians samosas, she was shocked to hear that the shop across
stunned when a regular customer was unhappy with her at Restaurant the street offers even more of a price reduction. “I really
blow dry. The middle-aged lady, who asked to remain thought I was the best at bargaining,” Bindu wailed to
anonymous, had frequented the venue every Monday, SATHORN – After scouring a list of unfamiliar reporters over the telephone. “I know that all prices are
Wednesday and Friday for the past 15 years. This was restaurants, Preeti*, 28, and Sanjay*, 29, (*not their just a starting point. Now I’m questioning if I’ve been
the first time she complained that her hair was too flat real names) decided to boldly venture out for a dinner overpaying for vegetables, spices, clothes and everything
and didn’t have the signature curls at the bottom to date on Saturday night. To their horror, they saw a else I’ve ever bought.” A friend of Bindu tried to comfort
add volume. She summoned her driver to collect her table of other Indians seated near the entrance when her by saying, “Don’t feel so bad. Everyone knows I’m
from the parlour in a huff. The salon employees stood they walked in. The couple has been dating for eight actually the one who is the best at bargaining.”
around gossiping for a good 10 minutes after this ordeal, months now without their family’s knowledge. Preeti
and for the rest of the afternoon while tending to other and Sanjay were not sure if the other Indians knew who
clients. Before the irate customer exited the salon, she they were and would tattle on them. They reported
told the hair stylist that she would not be coming back, feeling nervous because the people at the Indian table
only to return again for her next appointment. stared directly at them when they walked in. “It was
unnerving,” Preeti describes. “I didn’t know what to do

MASAL A LITE ISSUE 161 - MAY 2024