Axioms we regard as moms-advise-she-feels-dutybound-to-lecture one about have a way of coming true in the most unexpected ways. This lady cropped up in the office with a spoiled bratty kid who just wouldn’t stop screaming. Considering the cacophony generated by the crowd of people gathered at the window to get their documents attested and a bealegured me trying futilely to make head or tail out of the imperial orders coming down the telephone amidst distortion was the last staw. After hanging up the phone (I took great pains to ensure I didn’t slam it!) I requested said lady to leave her kid out only to be regaled with furious retorts about how officers had no regard for the ‘awam’. What stunned me was the fact that we had gone out of the way to accommodate said lady. Men, you can ask the constable to take care off but what the hell do you do with a woman who launches into a tirade witout provocation about how she is being treated badly and what not and manages to twist everything you say with minimal effort and maximal efficiency.

Considering the above it was nothing less of a shock to have the same woman return a bare hour later metamorphosed into the spirit of decorum, insinuating a ‘please and thanks’ in every breath because she wanted us to do something for her. Life does have a way of making you go in circles so pay heed when moms tells you to make your words sweet because you do end up eating them someday, often sooner rather then later.