The Mingy Grandmother!

Stingy, mingy, parsimonious, frugal, prudent, thrifty—there are so many words for ‘miser’! We must be prudent in using a suitable word for our lovely grandmother who just had the habit. We decided upon ‘mingy’, but definitely ruling out the possible interpretation of ‘mean’. Hard core misers are hardly enjoyable! Those who are rather habitual ones with lots of confusion and contradiction are really amusing. In a particular neighborhood there had been a grandmother who got the reputation of being a little miserly, but most of the times she was not taken seriously and was only laughed at. Further, she was never mingy to family and close relatives. Only when ‘others’ were concerned she behaved differently. For all the ceremonial functions including a few weddings held in her household our grandmother always insisted on visiting the neighbors to invite. She used to meet the head of the family saying, ‘Please do come!’ and then adding in a low tone, ‘Only you…alone…okay?’ Afterwa