 Inside joke
Men and women are... different
Bahram Saghari
September 2, 2004
iranian.com
It's practically a cliché that if two women
were caught with identical clothes at the same party, they would
come to hate
each other for the rest of their lives, and that party will be
known as the worst they ever attended, compounded if it is the
husband's company party!
If a guy finds another guy wearing similar clothes, an instant
pride sets in, and they are likely to become friends for life.
"Taa Nabashad Cheezaki, MarDome NaGooyand CheezHa" [Where
there's smoke, there's fire.], basically, every rumor is true
to a certain degree ...
I broke my bike handlebar on Saturday. Apparently the handlebar
had fatigued and after consulting the scripts in Murphy's
law, it was waiting for that perfect opportunity to break apart
... it did in a well positioned race exactly as I was passing a
guy and sarcastically told him "Good morning Lance".
As upsetting and painful as it was, I got lucky and the injuries
were pretty minor; I basically din't break any bones - I
was scraped up pretty bad though with road rashes all over my legs,
arms, and shoulder.
Since this wasn't my first bike accident,
I wasn't sure which was going to be hurt more: The pain of
the crash itself, the agony of the broken handlebar which I now
need to replace which also means that I cannot use my racing bike
for a few days in the middle of the racing season, or, that scolding,
blaming look on my wife's face, and the follow up same old
lecture when she sees me like this again!
I limped along to the first-aid station after which, I quickly
drove home and sneaked into the garage. I was just about to take
a shower in that Hydrogen Peroxide when my wife opened the access
door and caught me standing there in the middle of the garage in
my shorts, blood running down my legs and arms, with a big brown
bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide in my hand.
...
And yes, in a side by side test, the pain of that look was by far
greater that any physical pain or any bodily injury I could have
ever received. She was the undisputed winner and that look was
worse than 100 FohShe Khar Madar ... Those unspoken words,
that facial expression, and that body language were more painful
than crossing the Polle Sarat [Sarat Bridge, a mythical bridge
that Muslims have to cross to go to heaven, and if they are guilty,
the pain of crossing Sarat will be more excruciating than anything
else in the universe!]
Her comments ranged from "Bahram, why aren't you more
careful?!" and "How fast were you going on that bike?!" to "Did
you even think?!" and "How come it is always you?!" all
rhetorical questions that I can never answer and if I do, I get
myself into more trouble.
"Actually honey, I love breaking the bike that I absolutely love
and it took me so long to get, and, what can I say, the masochist
in me is always on the look out for new ways to inflict pain"
"Sarcasm won't get you anywhere. Give me that
bottle and let's pour that burning Hydrogen Peroxide on your
wounds, it'll make us both feel better!"
Although I was in great pain, to prove that it was a minor accident
and not a big deal, we went shopping the next day and accidentally
ran into Dave, a racing friend, and his wife Ranae - David
had also crashed moments earlier, right behind me in that very
race and like myself, he too had brand new bruises and rashes all
over his arm and legs and similarly, nothing broken. [I COULD NOW
PROUDLY SAY: YES HONEY!!! THERE WERE OTHERS WHO CRASHED AND YES,
WE WERE ALL GOING AS FAST.]
I'd seen David at the beginning of the race that day. We
race for different clubs, and although I don't want to admit
it, but when I saw him at the mall and found out that he had crashed,
I had this hidden joy, glad that he didn't place ahead of
me - I am confident that he was happy that I didn't place
ahead of him. But when we started talking about the crash and acting
like little boys, exploring whose developing scabs were more painful
or "Hey look at this one, still bleeding", it became
very funny.
Come on! Imagine two grown men, our ages, in the middle of the
mall, comparing scabs and rashes, ooing and ahhing !
 We started to laugh, and a couple
of comments later and a couple of "look at this one", "look
at that one",
and "I couldn't roll in bed last night"s, we
were roaring and laughing so hard that my abdominal muscles started
to hurt and tears were coming down our faces.
Taban and Ranae were not amused at all and just looked on without
the slightest trace of a smile, or even a remote grin on their
faces - stone faces these women are, I think all Venusians
are like this!
When we parted, Taban said: "Aslan Khandeh Dar Nabood" [It
was not funny at all].
Her comment, almost predictable, was explosively funny - I was
laughing out of control.
While having breakfast (Paneer va Chai va Barbari) with my kids
the following day, Dave called to see if I wanted to go for a ride.
He said that Ranae told him, and then repeated practically word
for word, everything that Taban had been telling me since my crash.
He even said that Ranae also told him that his behavior at the
mall
was childish and it was not funny at all. The similarity of Ranae
and Taban's comments were beyond funny. I laughed again so
hard and got some of that sweet tea in my throat (Jast Galoom),
which made me cough and some of the cheese came out of my nose.
Now the kids were laughing, coughing up their food all over their
plates ...
 While filtering out my Venusian wife's comments, threatening
that the kids will grow up to be Bee TarBeYat [rude] and it was
going to be all my fault, I was thinking "the cheese round
trip, up my nose and back in my mouth, hurt more than the scrapes
on my knees ... I wonder if Faransavi, which has less salt,
hurts more or Leeghvan?!!"
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Inside joke
