The rope incident

This is about the time when I was in my 11th standard, the PUC as one puts it. We were out in the market with my parents, my sister and my aunt and uncle. My uncle is a real fast walker, why, there are times that you just turn your back to him for a second and he vanishes out completely! My aunt on the other hand is a leisure walker, add to that a nice pair of stiletto heels and what do you have? A walking snail...though poor thing she tried her best to walk as fast as she could, her feet were not always co-operative. And that is just what happened on the day in question.
We were in one of the many jam-packed lanes in the marketplace where there hardly is any place to move. With super narrow lanes and crowded shops and all sorts of people from hefty ladies with their frail-looking servants to the huge families with atleast six children of six different sizes screaming out and running around helter-skelter.
My uncle was as usual, rushing through the market, mostly because he was scared that his wife would catch hold of him and make him pay for something he believed was completely unnecessary and also, for the exercise. He was a fit person you see. And he liked brisk walking too. My father and us kids were keeping him company too...shopping wasn't something we enjoyed thoroughly either. And uncle was fun! he always had a joke to share or an incident to narrate...he was a laugh riot. Little did we know that day we would see a practical joke.
It happened like this, our aunt saw something of particular interest in one of the congested shops, what it was eludes me at this instant, but it must have been mighty desirable because it made her yell out to uncle, actually yell out is an understatement. It was probably a siren. But we all know how men's listening skills suddenly diminish when it comes to hearing their wives, dont we, and well, he walked along unobtrusively. This angered my aunt and she rushed towards him at top speed. And then suddenly there was a loud 'Thud' and for a few seconds the world seemed to come to a stand-still, even the oozing out market that we were in.
What we saw would have been a funny sight for us too, had it not been for our very own short and sweet aunt lying face down on the ground. Flat ! And about 5-10 shopkeepers running helter skelter to help her out. We rushed to aunt's aid...all of us...all of us except that is, our dear uncle, whose first impression of his wife lying flat on the floor was, "Dekho! koi moti tapak gayi !" (Check out the fatso lying down there!) and later on recognising who it was, stood there, intently absorbing every single detail of the whole incident, never once thinking of going over to her and helping her out. Why! There already was a whole army to help her, wasn't there? This was the argument he used for following umpteen days, when our aunt refused to talk to him.
It cost him a lavish dinner at one of aunt's favourite restaurants followed by almost a whole new wardrobe to bring her back to normal...or as he put it, abnormal.