ulta pulta
Bewitching wives
Jaspal Bhatti

Jaswinder Bhalla, a top stand-up comedian of Punjab, was travelling with me in different parts of Canada for the performance of his hit play Naughty Baba Back in Town. I used to share a room with him in Vancouver. Most of the time Bhalla used to chat with his wife through Skype on the Internet.

I said, "I feel jealous of the way your wife cares for you." He said, "In India we may not have health and life security but we have wife security. Indian wives are very dependable." I said, "Don’t you think they are over dependable? When we don’t have any worries, they become our worries." He said, "Bhatti sahib, don’t speak like this, as my Internet connection is still on."

I said, "Here in Canada, they say there are three Ws you cannot trust — women, work and weather". Bhalla disconnected his Internet connection and replied with the great courage, independence and wisdom, "Women in Canada are really goddesses, bhaji. You just need to have a little argument and they don’t take a minute to walk out on you. And sadian jananian tan chudelan hundian ne, sadian chhatti galtian de bawjood sanu chambrian rehendian ne (Our wives are like witches. Despite our many mistakes, they keep clinging on to us."

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