Bangali formalities!

Saturday:

At the evening, an aunty calls and asks to speak 2 my parents.

Me: Aunty, ammu abbuto ektu baire giyeche. Ami ki kono message dite pari abbu ammuke?

Aunty: Na ma, eid e to tomra ashla na, ei jonno bhabchilam ajke raat-e tomaderke ashte bolbo.

Me: Aunty, ajke raat-e je amader ekta dawat ache ***** Uncle er bashai.

Aunty: Tai? Acha tahole, tomar ammu abbuke bolo je kalke raat-e jeno amader bashai ashe. Bikale char tai to tomar uncle bashai ashe tai raat-e amra shobai mile khabo. Acha?

Me: Acha aunty, insha Allah ami abbu ammuke ei message ta dibo.

This is what I can remember of the convo (not word for word though). Ta ami ar ki korbo? Abbu ammu bashai ashlo, I gave them the message. And they said, "OK we'll go".

Sunday:

This being the night of the dawat, we went to this aunty's place. We went a bit early because abbu ammu hadnt spoken 2 them in a while so they wanned a jomjomat adda. Plus I told them, if u do early, go b4 maghrib coz i hafta pray there then. And thats what we did. The whole family went, all 5 of us (abbu, ammu, me, sis and fupi). The first time in MONTHS we all went someplace 2getha so it was a real festive feeling. Kintu, oi bashai giye dekhi aunty-der dorja janala shob locked. Ar ki kora, abbu gave a call on the aunty's mobile.

Aunty: Ki bhai, ki khobor? Bhalo achen?

Abbu: Eito achi arki. Tomra kothai?

Aunty: Amra to *****der bashai. Ken bhai? Ashben?

Abbu: Uhhhh (lost for words - long pause), Shelleyr shathe kotha bolo.

Shelley (aka ammu): Eije, ishita naki bolchilo je tumi ajke raate dawat diso.

Aunty: Koi, nato.

Ammu: Tumi naki bolso je ajke raat-e ******** (her hubby) ashar pore amra ekshathe khabo. Ei jonno ashte bolso.

Aunty: Koi, erokom kono kotha to hoini. Kintu, tate ki hoise, apnara half an hour pore ashen. Shomosha ki? Ekshathe khabo amra.

Ammu: Na thak, ishitar to namaj porte hobe, eijonno bashai jai.

Aunty: Na na apa, apnara ashe pashe ghuren, amra adha ghontar modhe ashchi.

Ammu: Na na, tomra berau, amra jai. Onno arek din beraiye jabo. Heh?

After that there was a long convo where the aunty was telling us 2 stay and my parents were saying that we were leaving... Then on the way back home...

Ammu: O ki asholey tomake bolechilo je amaderke raat-e jete?

Me: Ami ja message peyechi, tomake tai bolechi.

Ammu: Bujhechi, o hoito emni beraite jabar kotha boleche ar tumi oitake dawat mone korecho.

Me: Hoito tai. Uni amake bollo je raat-e tomaderke khete jete bolte, eita dawat-er motoi mone holo amar. Man, this bangali formalities! I dont get it! Dawat dile keo bolte parena je dawat dilam! Eto ghuriye pechiye keno bolte hoi!

Fupi: Etao to hote pare je unara tomake msg debar por tomar abbu ammu fone kore confirm koreni. Ei jonno unara bhebeche tomra ashbena.

Ammu: Kintu o je bollo, oishob kotha ishita ke o ekdom bolei nai.

Me: Tomader o dosh ache! Ami bollam je dawat dise, ektu fone kore confirm korba na. Ei jonnoi to unara bhule gese.

Anyways, the moral of that story is:

Keo jodi kokhono amake ba amar family ke dawat deo, clearly bole diyo to je "Eita ekta DAWAT, not just an invite saying come over sometimes". Or better that u leave the msg with abbu ammu or if u leave it with me, who is completely oblivious to bengali formalities, we'll show up when u dont want us there :P

PS. Is it just me or is every1 having trouble accessing PA's blog? When i go there all it shows is a blank page with the blogger toolbar thingo at the top :S