Keeping up with the Joneses

I and my friends have a very curious habit. We all (yes Varsha, especially YOU) love to play the one-up game. We mostly do it unconsciously, but we play it seriously and in all earnest. Varsha and I had a two month long email exchange in which each of us tried to prove just how deep our roots were entrenched and how original our claims to being genuine UP* wallahs were. THAT is how serious we can get. The game ended with Varsha extending a conciliatory hand of friendship and both of us agreeing that each of our claims had been proved correct and we did not need to try so hard anymore.

This time in Delhi, Ponappa and I played the game again about something that is best not mentioned here. It is a three letter word, starts with S and ends with X. Our stories got wilder and wilder and our faces got more and more determined (to win) with each tale exceeding itself in its claims. Ultimately, I came up with a whopper Ponappa could top in no way and Ponappa looked exasperated and told me, "Ok, Plumpie, you win." She was a bit huffy after that.

The moral of this post is that do not try to play the one-up game with me. I always win and if I don't I look so woebegone that I am allowed to win. It helps being a babyface, I tell you.

*UP - Uttar Pradesh, one of the states in India and where my ancestors came from, so did Varsha's as has been proved.