Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Fall Thoughts....

Smiley’s rant on women and the stuff they keep in their handbags had me lashing back on the usefulness of the odds and ends I stash away in mine: moisturizers, Tylenol and all the other essentials that I’m sure my smarter readers are well aware of. It also had me smiling at a recollection. Mr.Gabby has extremely dry skin. Skin that had maybe imagined it would remain in humid old India has never done too well in Boston and these harsh winters. Also, hot showers followed by hurried shaves are supposed to be followed up with liberal moisturizing, something a man who takes 40 minutes to down a single cup of coffee and then 40 mins again to revisit the loo and think on the throne has, funnily enough, no time for.

So two winters ago, the dryness had reached some intense heights. His hands were so rough, I cringed at contact. He was my lint-remover. If my coat or sweater was covered in lint, I would ask him to run his palms all over me and LO-no lint! Convenient but weird, passer-bys admired how we had found some use for the predicament, but at the same time I’m sure, made a mental note never to shake hands with that tall and lanky Indian man.

I don’t know what or who I had to thank for (maybe the dwindling number of handshakes or an “Ouch” from some pretty female colleague) but the man did come to me for help, finally. You can only lead a horse to the river and my pleas had always gone unnoticed till then. Afterwards the nightly treatments began in earnest. We would soap those hands in the richest of lathers and then follow up with inches of cocoa butter cream enriched with hemp (from the rainforests, of course, no less) and follow that up with pulling on these breathable moisturizing gloves! Yes gloves. So he slept with these skin-tight, very Mime-like white gloves on throughout winter and believe you me, the way those hands healed and the resulting smoothness was well worth the creepiness of a white gloved hand reaching out in the middle of the night. It was startling at first especially considering the dark hairiness of the remainder of the arm but I quickly got used to it.

It’s fall here and already I felt a distinct roughness yesterday, so as we pull out the sweaters, jackets, scarves and boots this weekend, the white gloves will be retrieved and left on his nightstand – a gentle reminder of rougher times to come.

41 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

i was here first! :-)
sleeping w/ gloves definitely is creepy...very creepy. Mr. Gabby must really want those smooth hands to go to such measures!

3:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You Brute!! What have you done to your man!! Oh the insanity ......

4:33 PM  
Blogger anantha said...

Gabby: Rough palms huh? Ahhh.. but you know. Mr.Gabby could be like my cousin. This guy has been such a cricket freak from childhood (he's 21 now) that when he was 12 or 13 and when I saw him after a period of a couple of years, his palms were as rough as Gandhi's heels would have been after all that barefoot walking. His explanation was - He had few or no friends in Lucknow where he lived and so he spent all his time playing catch with a rubber ball against the wall.

"cocoa butter enriched with hemp"!!!!!
oooohhh.. now I know why you seem to be upbeat and high all the time. You don't sniff that cocoa butter daily, do you? ;)

4:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

HA HA HA HA !! :D
Priceless !

I would have loved to watch the expression on Mr Gabby's face when he underwent the first round of soap and cocoa butter cream :P

Ah well, you can't complain if he ends up becoming one of those metrosexual types then...

And white gloved hand reaching out in the middle of the night ? Sounds like a creepy MJ nightmare of some poor kid !

9:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can't believe its winter already!! Seemed like fall just started...

Ashwin

9:15 PM  
Blogger burf said...

poor mr. gab

10:40 PM  
Blogger Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said...

reminds me of a frend of mine who says he has the body of a crocodile
and he actually spends a good one-hour more than his wife to get dressed(he follows a dutiful moisturizing routine)
So can I shake hands with Mr.Gabby now???

11:19 PM  
Blogger phatichar said...

:) nice account of the winter..

(I know, I know, but don't know what else to say)

12:35 AM  
Blogger :-) said...

Hands with white gloves in the night. :-) Sounds cool. What other novel stuff do you guys try? Tell me. Tell me.

1:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

:)

Your posts make me smile. My husband spends 1 hour on the "throne" daily. You are better off!

6:41 AM  
Blogger shub said...

:)

8:15 AM  
Blogger Vee Cee said...

To all the women who are miffed at/make fun of the thinking throne and the time spent on it - hey! if you can suggest another place where a man can think to his heart's content without being asked "What are you thinking about", we're all ears!!!! :)

9:01 AM  
Blogger Prerona said...

very nice vie. poor husband, though. such troubles men have in this cruel world ;)

9:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You guys are hilarious. My sincere sympathies to Mr.Gabby.

9:53 AM  
Blogger Peeyush said...

He he.. running his hands all over you? Sounds like lint removal was just an excuse.

Nice painting, BTW/

12:04 PM  
Blogger Peg said...

Gabby, you are truly an angel!

1:55 PM  
Blogger anantha said...

vc: LOL.. totally man. I can empathize, though I have still a couple of yrs to go before i actually experience it :)

3:31 PM  
Blogger Hornswoggler said...

you think he'll give in to the white glove treatment once again?
Am falling at your feet. Teach me how you do this!

10:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

First time at this blog. Great reading - every post is fresh and light. You've got yourself a regular.

Phi

6:11 AM  
Blogger Vee Cee said...

Anti: All I can say is yensaaaaaaaaaai till then! :)

10:39 AM  
Blogger Krish said...

"Never give a man a gloved finger"

:-)

7:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hahah poor thing.. My hubby has the same problem during winter and I try and load his hands with winter cream when he is in a busy mood so that he does not cringe.. LOL

pallavi

11:02 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

first time i'll be experiencing the new england fall and winter - should be good fun. especially given all my life has been in the maratime heat and humdity of mumbai and singapore :)

7:09 PM  
Blogger Visithra said...

Hehehe is this a reminder for mr gabby to start mosturizing? ;p

9:55 PM  
Blogger :-) said...

Visithra: So far so good. Can we move on to the nose and mouth now? Thanks.

11:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL @ VC

3:09 PM  
Blogger AmitL said...

Hahaha...those were some extremely'handy'hints,if I may say so..Hats off to u for your patience.

8:22 PM  
Blogger Arunima said...

He really agrees to wear those gloves?

wow!

1:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Look around you. I'm sure there are more stories to tell.

Nick

9:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What is VC talking about?

9:46 AM  
Blogger anumita said...

Gloved hand reaching out sounds real creepy! How does it feel?

11:53 AM  
Blogger gvenum said...

Can't help feel like watching a program on animal planet. so Howz the Glove Man doing so far:)

8:37 PM  
Blogger Twilight Fairy said...

Gratis! me back...trip awesome :)

BTW, hands all over you.. now what did passersby think of *that*?? :p

2:40 PM  
Blogger Casablanca said...

Came here thru Burfi's blog.. and what a good read it is!

7:30 PM  
Blogger :-) said...

Fairy: You mean, gloved hands all over her? I am presuming no passersby in their bedroom. Gabby, am I right?

9:59 PM  
Blogger manuscrypts said...

lol..'think on the throne'.. can relate oh so much to that :)

2:09 AM  
Blogger Twilight Fairy said...

smiley, no I mean this
"If my coat or sweater was covered in lint, I would ask him to run his palms all over me and LO-no lint! Convenient but weird, passer-bys admired how we had found some use for the predicament"..

you need to get your eyes tested dear :D

9:10 AM  
Blogger Twilight Fairy said...

Hey gratis.. where art thou? seen on smiley's blog but not on ur own :)

12:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This was sooo sweet, Gabby. It had me smiling all the way to the end :-).

10:31 PM  
Blogger Twilight Fairy said...

ok.. I officially declare this blog on leave now..

gratis..g'r'abbing 40 winks kya?

4:06 AM  
Blogger Twilight Fairy said...

ok wanted to tell u, the much awaited post is up now :p :)

9:07 AM  

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