The “Cute” Patriarch.
By Rummuser. Filed in Humor |Tags: Hearing aid.
I have been posting some serious topics recently and it is time for a lighthearted one.
Our son Ranjan thinks that his grand father is cute!
Let me explain.
On his arrival to stay with us, among the various adjustments that had to be made, was to fit my father with a new hi-tech hearing aid. This was duly arranged for, and he has already been to the clinic a few times for adjustments to the instrument. While at the clinic, all complaints are satisfactorily attended to, no sooner he reaches home, where the environment is not sound proof, he was finding wearing the aid discomforting.
When a couple of days ago, he caught hold of Ranjan with some spare time, he requested that he be taken to the clinic. I suspected that it was to enjoy an outing with his grandson and did not particularly object.
On return Ranjan came up to me and said, “Dad, Thattha (Tamil for grand father) is cute”. This is the first time that anyone has called my father that, and I asked in amazement as to what made him think so.
It transpired that my father complained to the doctor that the aid was not responding to his adjusting the volume control to which he was told that that facility had not been activated yet, as per normal procedure, and that it would be done, once he got used to the unit. My father had been informed of this on earlier occasions, but perhaps had not understood the message. He then complained that wearing the unit did not result in any improvement whatsoever to his hearing ability. He further complained that when he wore it, there was a loud disturbing hum in his ear. When the hearing aid was examined by the doctor, it was found that there was no battery inside. Apparently, in fiddling with the volume control etc, the battery had fallen off! Since there was no battery, obviously, the loud disturbing noise was only in his imagination! My father was again tutored in detail, as to what all he needs to do to get used to the unit and sent back.
After they left the clinic and in the car, my father apologized to Ranjan and wondered how he could have lost the battery! He also wondered how the loud noise disturbed him at home but not at the clinic!
Ranjan found this episode quite funny and that is why he thought that his grandfather is “cute”. My siblings and other second and third generation members of the family reading this post, will vouch for one fact. That description would not have been used by anyone else in the family in earlier years.
Any such “cute” stories out there?
Wednesday, January 21st 2009 at 23:46 |
Hi Rummuser, I thank you for this post because truth to tell, I have hearing problem, too. I thought of wearing an aid but afraid that I would become so dependent on it that whenever I took it off I could not hear anymore at all.
As of now, I am suffering this very disturbing tinitus. I don’t have peace, I mean it literally. I thought this must be because of the winter and also, maybe because I came from the South East… just a thought.
Rummuser Reply:
January 22nd, 2009 at 21:02
@grace, I am sorry to hear that. If you could, like we persuaded our father to, look at it as a necessary evil, you will begin to see the humour in it! All of us go through some problem or the other and the climate different from what we are used to can indeed make a great difference to our health.
Thursday, January 22nd 2009 at 00:20 |
My father-in-law had the same hearing aid problems, but he never managed to dislodge the battery.
But, a cell phone! The concept of having a cell phone for emergency calls ended up causing so much trouble that we finally just retired it. It baffled him that all you had to do was dial with it wherever you were. So, it exceeded him anytime he tried to “figure out” what to do.
Cute. Pain in the butt. We all laughed.
Conrad´s last blog post..President Obama Reads This Blog
Rummuser Reply:
January 22nd, 2009 at 20:59
@Conrad, My father too would not be caught dead using a mobile phone! We tried and gave up too!
Thursday, January 22nd 2009 at 00:45 |
My wife called her mom the other day and told her about being able to talk with and see our daughter and grandkids over the internet now.
She said, “I’ve heard about that, but I just don’t know how it works.” She thought it was pretty cool, but if anyone were to suggest that she do something like that, she would probably say, “Oh, no. I couldn’t do that.”
She is 84 years old and very old-fashioned. She never learned to drive and has never voted. When asked if she was registered to vote, her response was, “Oh, no. Dad did that.”
Very much the woman of the mid 20th century to this day.
Mike Goad´s last blog post..January Twentieth
Rummuser Reply:
January 22nd, 2009 at 20:59
@Mike Goad, Just like my father who refuses to learn how to operate a computer. He still uses the old fashioned typewriter and the services of the postal service!
Thursday, January 22nd 2009 at 03:58 |
I wasn’t exactly sure if my stories fit in with what you were looking for, so I posted several on my blog instead.
Delirious´s last blog post..Working the System
Rummuser Reply:
January 22nd, 2009 at 20:57
@Delirious, I have seen them Delirious and they are very interesting indeed.
Thursday, January 22nd 2009 at 04:45 |
When my mother-in-law was in her 80′s she wanted to send family letters via e-mail. So when we were there on vacation I set up AOL on her computer and wrote out detailed instructions of what to do. I wanted to walk her through them a couple of times before we left, but my husband said, “She doesn’t need you. Becky (a grandchild) knows a lot more about this than you do. She’ll take care of it.”
Yeah, sure. I didn’t bother arguing, but neither Becky or anyone else in the family knew anything about AOL. So after we got home I spent hours and hours walking my mother-in-law through it over the phone. It gave me great appreciation for technical support people and was a great experience in communication. She appreciated my patience and I was happy to do something for her. I still chuckle about it. It really would have been easier if we had just gone through it a couple of times in person.
Jean Browman–Cheerful Monk´s last blog post..To Tell the Truth
Rummuser Reply:
January 22nd, 2009 at 20:57
@Jean Browman–Cheerful Monk, Jean, you must visit Delirious. She has posted some interesting episodes! This is something that I am battling with my father too. He simply will not agree to learn how to use the computer! His grandson is now trying. Let us hope that he will heed his grandson. After all, as we say in India, the interest is far more appealing than the capital!
Thursday, January 22nd 2009 at 16:05 |
Popping in to break my silence! I have lurked in the past and unusually for me, stayed quiet.
I am short of time this morning so will make time at the weekend to catch up properly!
Grannymar´s last blog post..Thursday Special ~ Rose and Barb
Rummuser Reply:
January 22nd, 2009 at 20:39
@Grannymar, Welcome Grannymar. I eagerly look forward to the week end.
Thursday, January 22nd 2009 at 21:29 |
Knowing Ranjan I suspect that he has learned the lesson of not taking himself so serious. I did have some conversations with him about what it was like for him to have his Grandfather around, and his reply was that it was fun most of the time which is the same response I got when I asked him about living with his father. I know that he loves and respects both of you very much and that love and respect translates into an acceptance that only a loving grandson and son could have. You guys are living the good life – soak it up.
Rummuser Reply:
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:58
@Phill Smith, We are Phil, we are. There is more to come on the situation. Some hilarious, some poignant. Await with bated breath.
Friday, January 23rd 2009 at 13:18 |
Good Grief! as Charlie Brown would say!!
Ranjan needs to drastically upgrade his vocabulary–ha ha!
Actually grandparents and grandkids have more patience with each other than parents and kids.
My granddaughter Uttara–short of three– is now learning the names of generations. She knows that her father has a Natarajan in it. So when she heard that her grandad’s name is Natarajan she qualifies it by saying “Jai Appa’s Appa is called Natarajan”.
PS: The present generation of the family has adopted the father’s name as the surname. The South Indian custom is to have the father’s name as an initial before the given name and mayber use a caste or generic name–in fact Ramana is the given name and Rajgopaul is actually the given name of our father, the subject of many of RR’s current blogs.)
Padmini Natarajan´s last blog post..Express Yourself Contest #49–The Actress
Rummuser Reply:
January 23rd, 2009 at 21:25
@Padmini Natarajan, Your message duly passed on to Ranjan. Cuteness in reverse!
Friday, January 23rd 2009 at 21:34 |
Taking into account Appa’s reputation as the Bombay Ronald Colman, maybe ‘COOL DUDE” may be more fitting.
Padmini Natarajan´s last blog post..Express Yourself Contest #49–The Actress
Monday, January 26th 2009 at 00:33 |
That really is a cute story though.
This is why I enjoy the elderly. They, like children, can be so innocent. My grandmother was also very “cute.” But she deliberately used to hide her medications so she didn’t have to take them. We would find her pills in her shoes and wrapped in mounds of tissues in her sweater pockets. It was cute that she would think she could get away with it, but also kind of scary that she would purposely avoid taking her medications.
Rummuser Reply:
January 26th, 2009 at 18:22
@teeni, A very close relative of mine was diabetic. When she passed away, when the family cleaned up her room, they found her entire cupboard and even on the mattress below her pillows, stored with sweets of all kinds!