Nokkuji

Yesterday I got an invite to a programme in my daughter's school. It was addressed to Mr. & Mrs KP.

We had registered our daughter's name in the school rolls as Gayathri. K. P to avoid them having to call all those unpronounceable parts of her long name and embarrass the little one. The teacher's sense of humour  must have prompted her to address the invitation thus.

This reminds of the episode of the Vellodis. Back in the 60s when my Grandpa was still alive, Mr. Vellodi was posted to the Finance Department of the Central Government as a Secretary. Delhi was a modern metropolis even then, but the Vellodis were village folks and continued the usual way addressing each other. In those days a wife never addressed her husband by his name. Instead he used to be referred to as "Nokku" meaning look here!

Many people used to visit the Vellodi couple. One among them was a man from Punjab and on such visits Mrs. Vellodi used to nudge her husband and say "Nokku" whenever she had to get his attention.

On one occasion the Punjabi and his wife had called on them to invite them for their daughter's wedding. The invitation was addressed Mr. and Mrs. Nokkuji!!

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