Wednesday, May 18, 2005

" Ambi Mama is leading Brahmin relative" - Survey

A survey has revealed that ‘Ambi Mama' is the leading relative among Tamil Brahmin families worldwide, with six in ten families having one of their own (a 60% repsesentation. Apparently, Ambi Mama held off stiff competition from Mani Mama (with 55% representation) and Baby Chitti (39%) for a well-deserved win.

“It's a great day for all Ambi Mamas. All the years of hard work – drinking coffee, criticizing the Indian team selection and complaining about blood-pressure – have finally paid off. Yay!”, said Ambi Mama, a spokesman for the Ambi Mamas Association of Dear Old Rascals (AMBASSADOR), a division of the Hardcore Brahmin Organisation (HBO). [Editor's note – The previous sentence has been roundly condemned by the Society for Prevention of Abbreviations that are Needless, Dumb and Execrable (SPANDEX)]








Some of the stalwarts of the Ambi Mama team pose for a photographer, after blading him with outdated advice on the best cameras, film, and lighting.
Mani Mamas all over the world watched in anguish as the final results were announced, plunging them into gloom. “It's no fun being a Mani Mama anymore”, said Mani Mama. “ Maybe if I change my name to ‘Ramesh Anna', I will have a brighter future”, he pondered pointlessly.

The survey also said that a respectable number of families (or a number of respectable families, as the case may be), have a Vaidhi Thatha, Bangalore Anna, and at least one random guy named ‘Chandroo' who is at all functions, but no-one can really place (and may not be related at all).

Predictably, bringing up the rear were non-entities like Driscoll Periappa, Jessica Alba Anni and Darth Vader Mama, which had zero representation. “Brahmins are way too conservative, dude!”, complained Cleveland Shankar, one of the more modern Iyer boys (or boyz, if you prefer. We offer multiple-choice reading. You're welcome.). “When are they going to drop old duds like Venkatakrishnan, Suresh and Balaji, and start using hipper names like Jason, Beyonce and The Human Torch?”, he asked, to wide applause from a group of people watching cricket on a nearby television.

Not all are happy with progress, however. “These youngsters are ruining everything by naming their children Archish, Dhruv and Plaha.”, thundered Badri Athimber. “ Can you imagine how it will sound? Dhruv Mama, Anamika Athai, Archish Chittappa – Ugh! Phooey! That is so not cool!!”, he growled, using expressions of disgust picked up from his states-based co-brother.

When asked for their response, several Brahmins living in Adyar merely arched their eyebrows, pursed their lips, and continued waiting for the December music season.

242 comments:

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Anonymous said...

Great finding. I have all in my family too. Nana, Cheenu chithappa, baby chithi, manni maami, kamala athai...

Anonymous said...

This is so true! I know of a Boocha Mami who was a constant source of embarrasment to kids and assortment of relatives with an affliction to spoonerism!!

The comments are a laugh riot!!! keep it coming guys, you just got yourself a regular here!

May I blogroll ya?

Unknown said...

hey

This is great stuff. You should take a dig at the Brahmin's inherent sense of superiority and arrogance. Some of them are like the Brits! They think they still rule the town.
:)

Cheers
Prasanth - A brahmin born but Kamal Hassan inspired non believer

Anonymous said...

Excerpts from elsewhere..

No Tam Brahm weddings are complete without the blessings of an Ambi
Mama, and a Mani Mama or the presence of Ramesh Anna, Thambu Thatha,Ramani Chittappa, Vaithu Mama/Mami, Gopu Anna, Bathma Mami ( note - not Padma, but Bathma!). My cousin's 83 year old granny is called Papa Chitti. By everyone! Then there is a random person called Kiccha (a shortened, mangled form of Krishnamurthy) all over the place. No one knows if he is related or not, but his existence is known.

- There was a group of people of elderly disposition sitting in the rows behind me, and I heard the quintissential Tam-brahm names - Raghu thatha, Kittu mama and Rama chitthi. Just so close to the dinner time they were enjoying sip-fuls of 'kaapi'.
- I heard a mami telling her husband at 7.30pm 'Vango, kalambalam, naazhi aachu'
- As always, there was un uncle who was upset about every single arrangement in the marriage and voiced it promptly in native toungue spiced with Tamil
- A mama was telling his group.. 'Maami pannarai dosai odai bettera irukku'. Maami fumes secretly.
- Some Maamis sitting in a row just ahead of me had started their
'maami' vambu. 'Adhu Lalli ponnu thaanai? Avullukku pakkaralaa?'. Yega naathanaar payyan states la irukkan..soptware le job pakaraan..oru pechu vaarthaku kepom

Balaji said...

This is historic post.
Today I had the same hearty laugh as I had two years back when I first read this post.
Din't put a comment then, commenting now so that my name also goes down in history :)

karavan said...

This is the first article I am reading today morning over hot cup of coffee prepared by my "chello." I loved every word of it. And I demand I need more.

Anonymous said...

aiyarshanti writes,
we've a Ambi who has become a Rajya Sabha member but still remains Ambi for the family and his cousin who has the same name is Thambi and my mom is calles Ammaponnu.We've a Ambi appa and a Kondhai appa also

sid said...

superb!!..hehe..what about the gopu chittapa's, the bhagyam athai's and the geeta chitti's??..surely they must have some standing!..what say..

Anonymous said...

My father in law is called as Car Thatha and we have Ambi Mama in our family. One of our family friend Padmanabhan is called as 'Paththa'
Sankar

Consultant said...

great reading !! my parents also liked it very much...

Anonymous said...

I am actually MANI MAMA diretly for more than twenty nephews and nieces. My mother had one Athai, whose sone was called Konthai. When Konthai was celebereating his Shathabhishekam his mother was nearing century and there used to be a saying in our village that if Athai is inviting anybody for his son's Shathabhishekam, she will be saying " En Konthaikku Shathabhishekam akkum, Ellarum varungo"
One popular Mani Mama

Anonymous said...

OMG!!..Hilarious..and so true..I have an Ambi mama, Baby Chithi and Mani Mama in my family too. My mother's nickname is also incidentally 'baby'. So, my kids need to call her 'Baby Pati'....but since, that would make all weird, I make them call her Indira pati. :-)..Keep Bloggin..

RR said...

My Dad is an Ambi Mama to a few and my wife has her own Ambi Mama too !! It is all in the family, isn't it :)

Anonymous said...

I had one Ambi thatha( no more :-(....) and then one Mani mama, one mani chittapa.

Guys you left gopu periappa,ramu mama and ramu chittapa.

Also cheemachu and narayanan athimber are world famous.Guess they will exist even in Chechenya!!!!

Also " Meena mama" and "roaji mami" were equally famous in coimbatore circle ...... and not forgetting to mention "thulasi mama" and "bhodayanam mama ( obviously he was over drunk) .......

Pacha mama was feared for his "Sani nakku" ....!!!!!! :-)

-Badri.

Anonymous said...

Hey, u all misseed '"kunju"mani'

GK

woenvu said...

wondering whether comments keep you warm at night (and let's be honest.. if they don't, they should), let me add no. 243 to the pile. everything that i may have said has possibly been said, so i'll just say nice post. :)

Unknown said...

awfully gud......is jus not da word!!!! re'lly hilarious!! ma dad is a balaji, n ma late chittappa was a suresh!!i ve a thangam pati, whose original name is sivakaamu n her sis is jayalaxmi who is calld ammanna by her bros n cousins!wat abt da innumerable meena periamma?
whoevr did tis.....PROPPS 2 U!!!
-AISHWARYA(b'lore) 21/02/09

Anonymous said...

My grandmother was called manni by all as the name took after her being called by other elders. We also have one ambi,Raju and Ramu in our family along with venkitoo and Delhi athai.

Gurumani(Guru)

Divya said...

I think u missed "Lakshmi mami".. Another popular 'chandroo' out there! Hilarious post!

Anonymous said...

Lookin at all the posts and comments... I get a scary feeling... we are all cousins!!! all the names are sort of repeating themselves in a cyclic fashion... and suddenly my 6 degrees of seperation had reduced to one!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Gosh My mother has an ambi maama...
and I have a chitappa who is called nadai( short for natarajan) :-)

KK

Ajay KLVS said...

SALAAAM!!! whattay post....i was loling for 1 whole day.

btw i have 2 ambi maamas and 1 mani mama.

wonering how ..."saroja atthai" was missed out?

Ajay KLVS said...

tt was hilarious...i am loling away at my office desk!!

bt wi had 2 ambi maamas and 1 mani maama.

wondering how "saroja atthai/chitti/maami" was missed out

Sreekala said...

Simply too good and something i can happily related to!
Had 2 ambi mamas. One Tiruchi Ambi and one Tirunelveli Ambi.One baby paati(now thats ironical, "baby" and "paati"!!).
Also the next most popular were "raju","cheenu"(the humble iyengar contribution) and "letchumi"!

Ajay KLVS said...

LOL...hilarious stuff.

i have 2 ambi mamaas and 1 mani maama in my family.

wondering how "pattu chitthi/attahai/maami" was left out!!!

Ajay KLVS said...

LOL...hilarious stuff.

i have 2 ambi mamaas and 1 mani maama in my family.

wondering how "pattu chitthi/attahai/maami" was left out!!!

Anonymous said...

HILARIOUS . AT THE SAME TIME NOSTALGIC AND SADDENING. BECAUSE SLOWLY AMBIS AND MANIS ARE DISAPPEARING. WE USED TO HAVE A CHOCLATE MAMA KANNA MAMA SUBACH MAMA RENGANNA ETC BUT SURELY AMBI MAMA TOPS THE LIST.

valayath HARI said...

I was born in the house of Ambi Mama-Kodungallur (Kerala)...the other relations like chittappa and kunjappa is popular in my house - me being kunjappa... all said and done - being an Ambimama...is a credible lovable attachment

valayath HARI

GK said...

we have a kondai anna who is more than a 65 today and a kunja chittappa

Dr Subramanian said...

I have a nephew Prakash who used to call his chittappas "Poopa" & "Peepa".
So much so,when they got married,their respective wives automatically became known as "Poopi" & "Peepi"!
talk about getting a nickname as a wedding present!!!!!!

Unknown said...

My Uncles jocularly naed theire class mate BRA (B.Ramachandran)
How do u like it?
vengdi

Sowmya Gopal said...

hehehe....I laughed a lot, brought back fond memories too ! From my side, I do know an Ambi mama and a baby chitti, I should add that I also have a Venkutu thatha and a Jaju athai :D

Hari said...

I have a mani mamma too :-)

Anonymous said...

I have an Ambi Mama and so does my husband !!! And the funniest part is they both (Ambi Mamaz) resemble so much that you would think they r twins !! That is really funny because, they r not related at all, if not for my wedding !!

evenanonymouser said...

LOL. Don't forget Ragu thatha, as seen on tv

Unknown said...

Very informative

monifa said...

lol my moms younger brother is ambi but somehow we felt shy to call him ambi mama ,and yes we have a long list of mani mamas, my younger brother is manikand so my kids have mani mama,,,,,, and women - raji and kamakshi could top

filterkaapi said...

this is Killarious!!!

we also need to mention the unwavering services of Gabriel Mani, Birla Shankaran, L&T Balu...almost as if they were the founders

Natarajan V said...

Saar, you are simbly fantastic. I do not wish to give any rejoinder to this marvel writing. Comments from various readers are real fun too. Please keep up the good work.
Regards.
Natu
nataura@gmail.com

Ram said...

Hilarious :)

I have a "mani chitthappa" who became "mani chittha" and eventually "manittha"

SingaiSiva said...

Awesome post indeed.

How about Raji mami, Lalitha perimma, gita akka, Chitras, Padmas, Sundaris, Suganthas, Pachas

SingaiSiva said...

hey, awesome post on ambi mama.

Probable and popular few others:
Rajis, Geethas, Sundaris, Kunjakkas, Pattus, Chitras, Sugandhis, Padmas, Latas!!

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