Thank God for "Goodness Gracious Me"!

Time for celebration! The dvd-box "The Ultimate Goodness Gracious Me" arrived today! I have a few things to do this weekend, but otherwise I plan to lock myself in and laugh the days away!

"Goodness Gracious Me" (called for some peculiar reason "Curry nam nam" when it was broadcast in Sweden) is one of my absolute favourite comedy series (up there with The Office, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers and Little Britain). It originally ran in the UK 1998-2001 (3 seasons).

Some of my favourite returning characters:

* The noveau riche Kapoors ("pronounced Cooper" - see picture!) who tries to be more British than the Brits themselves: one favourite episode is when they apply for membership at a golf club, and when the (white) club secretary after trying in vain to politely explain that they cannot join the club finally loses patience and exclaims that "pakis" are not welcome, and the Kapoors fully agree - they are Indian and don't like pakis either! So there is a double form of racism going on - brits who can't bother to tell different asian apart and label them all "pakis", and between Indians and Pakistanis. But most of all - it is always funny when people try to be posh...

* The buddhist exterminator: when called to a private home infested with mice in the kitchen, the woman asks the exterminator how he intends to get rid of the mice - his answer: he will sit and meditate, and make the mice reflect upon their actions until they reach Nirvana! And in another episode, his research assistance runs up to him and explains "we have found how to kill cancer cells!" he answers his usual catchphrase "Kill?! No, we mustn't kill"". Which of course I find extra funny being a buddhist myself, but also because it points to the eternal dilemma: are there things you "must" kill?

* Then we have the two bragging mothers, each claiming their own son is the best at whatever the topic is (even being the best criminal!) and the "loosing" mother always end up with the ultimate repartee "- yes, but how big is his danda?!?". (Danda means "stick" or "staff", so I leave it up to your own imagination to guess what they refer to. And I can't help but smile in yoga class when we are supposed to do dandasana - the staff pose...)

There are other great returning characters, and I get to see them all soon! Hooray! It will be a fun weekend!

/Kris C