The wife of one of my bhaiyya friends (friends who are older than me but still good friends) gave birth to their third kid on Friday, and come Saturday morning I dutifully paid a visit to the hospital. When I arrived, she was feeding the baby, so I waited outside the room, and my friend joined me. We sat on a bench discussing the India-Pakistan series when another man, who looked to be around 40 or so, joined us. Upon hearing the cricket talk, he turned to us and asked us the latest scores. We obliged, and then engaged in a polite conversation with him. Turns out, he is from Jamaica, and has been in Canada for 20 years or so.
He turned his head back towards the room and nodded at my friend, and asked in that enthralling Jamaican accent, "That your woman?"
My friend chuckled and replied, "Yah, that's my woman."
(It's a good thing bhabi wasn't there - don't think she would have taken too kindly to her husband referring to her as 'his woman').
"First kid?" Our West Indian acquaintance asked.
"Oh no, third!" My friend answered proudly.
"Third?!" A look of horror crossed the man's face. He paused, and then asked, "And ALL with the same woman?"
There was an awkward pause.
"Um," My friend was momentarily puzzled at his surprise before replying, "Yes. All with the same woman."
"Oh." The man from Jamaica gave my friend a look that just seemed to say 'oh-what-a-loser'. Then he continued, "My woman is having my kid. It's her first and my second. I have another, with some other woman. She's back in Kingston. Man, at this age you should be enjoying life, man. Third kid. Back in my place, we never have two kids with the same woman." He got up and excused himself, still shaking his head.
It took a moment before we burst out laughing. If you could take every stereotype of a Jamaican, and place them into one man, this man would be it. Which makes me wonder as how true all that stuff really is. I know some Jamaican Muslims, and if they live anything like Muslims, then everything they believe must run contrary to their culture!
Then again, we are allowed four wives.
Tags: Jamaica Family Mother
The personal, official blog of author Mezbauddin Mahtab
What cracks me up is that he thinks you guys are weird to have same wife and same children from her. As though his behavior is normal and your friend's abnormal. Go figure.
ReplyDeletewhat a lucky dude !
ReplyDeleteFirst thing I did, looked for jamaican immigration site !!!!!!
"allowed to have four wives"
ReplyDeletehehe
Good luck!
HAHAHAHA! Thats hilarious. I think I am going to tell everyone I meet that story tomorrow, oh man it feels good to laugh in the midst of a con law reading :)
ReplyDeletenooo we are not allowed for wives just because we please .. there is a strict criteria before we are eligible to marry another woman .. hope u know about the requirements and guidelines ..
ReplyDeletegreat story though
mez,
ReplyDeletehehe...
u can make an advertisement from this incident:
PRIVATE ROOM IN THE MATERNITY WARD - $200
SMALL BABY DRESS - $50
SURPRISE LOOK ON THE FACE OF A JAMAICAN MAN UPON KNOWING ITS THE THIRD CHILD FROM THE SAME 'WOMAN' - PRICELESS
THERE ARE SOMETHINGS MONEY CAN BUY..FOR EVERYTHING ELSE THERE'S MASTERCARD
:)
- Behbood
Aisha: That's precisely what cracked me up too.. his total dismissal of another mode of thought.
ReplyDeleteMasti: Did you find it?
Anon: One will be enough, me thinks.
Nermeen: Good luck with your exams.
Behbood: Man, hilarious comment, as usual.
Nabeel: ofcourse, ofcourse, was just kidding about the four wives.
ReplyDeletehehe, even main message of the post aside, your 'bhaiyya friend' term deserves a laugh in itself... can just about see someone go, "slamlikum, chacha. porichoy koriye diyy. ini amar ek bhaiyya friend hon..."
ReplyDeletebhai, your last few posts've been top-notch entertainment. keep 'em coming.
wassalaam.
thatz funny.
ReplyDeleteanyway, am posting this in regard to your reply on another blog regarding madhabs. here is a link that i think would give you a better picture of what it is actually.
http://masud.co.uk/ISLAM/ahm/newmadhh.htm
haha interesting story. I didn't know Jamaicans are that in to polygamy.
ReplyDelete