Thursday, July 13, 2006

Turn Right to Tighten

I used to be dad's little helper around the house. So every Saturday morning, I used to help him wash his scooter. I was small, so he would make me slide under the scooter to clean it. I loved working with him and so he included me in all his projects.

As I grew older, he started giving me bigger responsibilities as hold the ladder as he climbed to clean the roof gutters. Then finally he started giving me projects of my own.

All this changed when I got married, now dad does all his projects by himself, and Shekar has got himself a little helper (not so little anymore, but little because I only help a little).

Working with both of them I realized that they actually love working with me and not another guy mainly because:

  • After working for a while, I would ask Kudikan vallom veno? (Do you need anything to drink).
  • I never tell them what to do, only assist in what they do.
  • I keep them occupied with conversations.
  • I can never tell if they are doing something wrong.
  • I will never make a statement "I have done this so many times before and you are doing it all wrong" OR "This is how you do it", OR "Give it to me"
  • I never boss them around while they working on car/bike/house because that is their turf and I obey.
  • If they get mad at me, I don't take it personally I know they are just annoyed it is very similar to when I cook and things don't turn as I like them to I get mad at them (especially Shekar and he knows not to take that personally).
  • I clean up as we go, if they wiped grease off their hands and the paper towel is on the floor I make sure I take it put it in the trash.
  • Above all I know my tools, I know the difference between flat head, Phillips, TORX screwdrivers. I know my wrenches and a lot more.

The whole last week was spent working on our car and bike and I have graduated from little helper to must have for Shekar (not that he has an option).

24 comments:

educatedunemployed said...

Awwe..what a darling you are..

Archana Bahuguna said...

Vow, you sound impressive. If you'd like an advice, here it is - add this to your resume. You are probably the best worker around! On more serious thoughts (not that the eralier ones werent, but this is more) I think I'd like to cut paste this post of yours and use it as inspiration for myself. :-) Maybe put that on my whiteboard. No jokes here!

Anonymous said...

too good girl...
Three cheers to ya

silverine said...

You seem to be the ideal helper :)

yetanother.softwarejunk said...

Hay... I need your help to clean my ceiling fan. Are you free... yaar it is tough to handle my sis.
Btw I like only tea in break-time.

It is every bodies wish to get help from people like you :-)

Anonymous said...

:) wow , my dad would have loved to replace me with u , i messed up all the stuff i put my hand on , broke all the stuff that i touched , heheh

umesh undersocre ban undersocre 2000 at yahoo dot com

Anonymous said...

Awww :)

U make me miss Gayathri so much!! She was my lil helper...though i had to bribe her with ice creams.. ride on my cycle.. bike...movies to help me thats another story. But she would be there with me helping me when ever I was doing something interesting... plus I used to hate cleaning when I was younger... so mostely I would leave the scene after the work is done as its.. with teh Oil.. cut wires.. old screws..nails everything.. and my poor lil helper would clean it up... and now she is all grown up ...married and a mother...

I guess its time I found a lil helper of my own:) like everyone including u have been telling me too:)

Just Jane said...

sweet :)

Anil.kumar03@gmail.com said...

very true.

-ATG

Sarah said...

You are sooooo sweet.. Ithiri chaya kudikkan kittiyirunnenkil!!!!

Unknown said...

awww. :)

Sayesha said...

I LOVE this post! :)

Jiby said...

if i am the helper in some household or repair project...it usually means i dont know how to do it and i have asked someone to do it for me! then i morph into the same gentle helper u are!

but if i am the one doing stuff i make life hell for everyone around...bossing and yelling and showing off how good i am...my sis once even told me not to behave like an "alpan" coz there are very few things i can fix by hand!

Thanu said...

$educatedunemployed
Thank you, if only Shekar knew...

$Archana Bahuguna
Whoa.. me a inspiration... thanks.

$Ravi
Thanks.

$silverine
Only when he is fixing stuff, when we are indoors doing house chore I get to be the boss and Shekar the helper.

$yetanother.softwarejunk
U need help just to clean ceiling fans.... that is bad, it takes just few mins for 1 person.

$Anonymous - Umesh...
Welcome here.. I never broke stuff, as a kid I used to feel privileged that I got to touch dad's tools. Now I know how much a torque wrench costs, so and very careful.

$Welcome to Our World
Yeah I do, but am learning about new ones too

$Jaguuuu
I never had an older brother. If I had one I guess dad would have asked him and I would have turned out to be some one who says "What do u mean there are different kinds of screwdrivers?"

$The Chosen One
Thanks.

$Anil The Great
//very true.
Is that for the fact that guys hate to work with other guys.

$Immigrant in Canada
Ivade vaa nalla chaya with elekka ittu theram.

$The_Girl_From_Ipanema
Nice to see u here again.

$Sayesha
Thank you.

$Alexis Leon
Thank you. I have been doing this for so long, so it gets etched in memory

$Jiby
njigal ellarum oru mathiriya Now I know not to take the yelling personally. Kollangil inte practice

Shilpa said...

Wow...thats so impressive !
I admire the attitude u hv !

( I am sure I would hv complained )

Anonymous said...

:)

Since Your Blog has been silent for some time.. I have tagged u...I would have tagged u even otherwise...I guess U know that ;)

yetanother.softwarejunk said...

What to do yaar. Height kammiyannu. Need a help to hold the stool or chair :-(
I hope that you might be interested to take a picture tag.
Thank You.

Neihal said...

How do you make everything sound so much fun? Nicely written.

Ginkgo said...

ah how nice....Keep doing it:-)

Neihal said...

Hi Thanu. Yours was one of the first blogs I started reading. It was so easy to relate to your posts. It is still one of my fav. blogs.(you'd know, I am responsible for almost half the hits on your blog.)
Happy Freindship day.

Neihal said...

hey Thanu, you seem to have abandoned your blog. I have come here some 10 thousand times hoping to read a new post. so will you please?

Thanu said...

$shilpa
It all fun.

$Jaguu
H ave fav food tag to finish.

$YASJ
Jaguu has tagged me for the same.

$Chirikudukka
I rarely approve, and Shekar never waits for them either.

$neihal
Thank You.
May be b/c I actually had fun helping him.

$Ginkgo
Have too na...

$neihal
Thank you so much. Just for you I made a post today.

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