R.S.V.P

Gamini Appuhamy was a villager who had his education entirely in the Sinhala medium. It is not that he did not know English at all. There was one hour devoted to the teaching of English in his school and he had taken full advantage of it. However, he was affluent enough to send his son to Ananda College, Colombo. 

Appuhamy had several Tamil friends with whom he moved with hundred per cent cordiality as he was not a communal minded man at all. One day he received a wedding invitation from one of them, marked R.S.V.P. at the bottom left-hand corner of the card. Though with difficulty he understood the text of the invitation, the initials R.S.V.P. baffled him. So he took it to the master of the school in which his younger children were studying. That worthy was frank enough to admit that he did not know what those letters stood for. He then took the card to the boutique-keeper, who used to boast that he studied at St. Patrick's, Jaffna, and passed his Cambridge Junior there. That wise-acre said, “Oh! these stand for special guests Ramalingam, Shelliah, Velaudan and Ponnambalam. Their initials have been given so as not to offend the general guests. 

Not satisfied with the above explanation and not saying so, thinking that the Tamil Mudalali would get offended, Appuhamy took the card to the Sub-Postmaster, who examining it closely said, ”Oh! These are the initials of the bridegroom's father, whom I know very well-Rama Siva Velmurugu Paramanathan. thinking internally that all that was non-sense, the farmer went to the Parish Priest. 

"Since this is a Hindu wedding with dinner immediately after, l think the letters stand for the menu-~Rasam, Sambol, Vadai, Paayasam,” said the priest, nodding his head wisely. Appuhamy, thinking that at last he found the truth, went home gladly and wrote to the bridegroom's father, who had sent him the card, as follows-

“l thank you very much for the invitation. My whole family would attend the wedding. i am particularly glad that you are having rasam, sambal, vadai and paayasam for dinner. These i believe are vegetable foods, and we are all vegetarians, having given up meat on the advice of our temple monks.” 

0n the following day‘ Appuhamy went to Colombo, not only to pay his son's boarding and'school feeshbut also to bring him home to attend the wedding. He, of course, had to show the invitation card to the Principal to obtain leave for his son. However, he took the Opportunity to ask the Principal what R.S.V.P. stood for. He also told the latter what difficulty he had to undergo in trying to understand them. 

The Principal then said, ”No wonder, pe0ple won't understand them because they stand for the French words, 'Repondez s'il vous plait' which in English mean 'Reply. if you please'