How many great directors does it take to change a lightbulb?

An amusing excerpt from Manik & I, a new English translation of the memoirs of Satyajit Ray's wife Bijoya:

I can’t begin to explain how blissfully unaware Manik was about the domestic details of everyday life [...] Once, he was lying in bed, reading. Suddenly the bulb’s fuse went off. He remarked, ‘The bulb’s gone. What will we do now?’ By then I’d already taken out another bulb from the cupboard and when I went to the table he asked ‘What will you do?’

‘I’ll fix a new bulb.’

He said anxiously, ‘No no, don’t do it yourself. Ask them to do it.’

‘Them’ clearly referred to one or the other of our domestic help.

I turned the switch off, put in the new bulb and switched the light back on. Turning to him, I said, ‘Is that all right?’ Amazed, he asked, ‘Where did you learn to do this?’

‘There is nothing to learn, all you have to do is insert the bulb in the groove, and twist it!’

He never once touched the air conditioner in our room. If he entered the room for a rest and couldn’t see me anywhere, he’d shout out, ‘Where are you? Please switch the AC on for me.’ Such was my husband.

[More on the book in a future post]