Discovering my inner Pammi Aunty, writes Priyanka Chaturvedi

Hallo Sarla Penji…..yes you guessed it right, I have a serious Pammi Aunty hangover and have become a huge fan of the Pammi Aunty series! Our auntyji from saddi Dilli has a take on various issues in her trademark Punjabi ishtyle she is clued in and has an opinion on it too! She can talk on everything and anything…like a boss. 

Will you judge me if I said that my favourite though is the good old saas, bahu, jeth or devar saga — the ghar ghar ki kahani she shares with Sarla Penji. No one can also match the Indian aunty as far as their match making skills are concerned, their ability, like Pammi aunty’s to spot an eligible bachelor even at a funeral at Nigambodh Ghat! At some point in time each one of us would have had an encounter with one such aunty in our life too, of that I am certain. Also, I have come to realise that there is a little bit of Pammi Aunty in all of us and that is why perhaps we connect too.

Besides discovering my interest in all that Pammi aunty says, Harry Potter’s latest book helped me rediscover my love for the series and the Pottermania that both my son and I have shared over the years. However, he beats me hollow on the Harry Potter fangiri though. He was not even eight by the time he had read and re read the entire series, so much so that he was featured in a magazine for his Potter fangiri. There was a time I had to hide all the Potter books away from him to ensure he doesn’t start considering himself a wizard seeking admission in Hogwarts and me by being a mere muggle failing to understand his love for magical potions! 

So the book was pre-ordered and when delivered we almost got into a tussle as to who would get to read it first. A quick Potter quiz was the deciding factor, which he won and by conceding defeat I had to let go of my first claim over the book. I went back to watching Pammi Aunty, I wonder what her take on Harry Potter is though. Gosh! If he is struck with Pottermania I perhaps am with Pammimania! 

The inability to laugh at ourselves is something we will hopefully change in the time to come, with one baby step at a time. Or am I jumping the gun here with a hope that we will? Nevertheless, it is indeed a refreshing change to see Pammi aunty rock the digital world in a country where serious saas-bahu aur saazish dramas dominate TV screens. To come back to Potter which the son finished in one sitting and I have just about reached halfway through has all the makings of a (if I may say so without getting hate coming my way from Potter fans including my son) Hindi masala movie. Phew, there I said it. The outrage can begin while I in true PammiMania style end the column with hor si?