Friday, July 13, 2007

It's home, again!

You know how it is visiting home after a while? It is truly like revisiting a part of yourself. After what seems like ages, mom, dad, my sister, and I are back together to live the feeling of what it is to share our lives under one roof. Vani is on vacation, I am on one too, mom is no longer the busy teacher running to school, and dad is still the man who runs the show. When did we last hear of this? ‘Way too long’ back!

At a time when responsibilities of a different order, ones confronting a married woman is all that you have witnessed for a while, you actually wonder how it felt to remain irresponsible. And that precisely is the feeling I have come to experience again, during this break, the sense of parental pampering, a rare comfort of ‘there is someone to mind it all’. You don’t worry about what’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and it is all piled in copious amounts on a the ‘stainless steel plate’ that exclusively belonged to you ever since you came into this world. And what luxury - do you have to remind mom about what would tickle your taste buds? Come on!

We have spoken all sorts of stories, ones buried deep inside our souls, waiting to be reborn, in the words of our retelling and our acts of hearing them out all over again. Tales like how I gave my sister the name she has come to bear today, how she used to be this little brat who wanted everything that her sister had and at one point of time trembled with jealousy over all the attention that the elder one received when she had set off for graduation.

With mom this time, it has been a run through of her patented ‘arranged marriage’ philosophy, as we laughed over all that appeared ‘once serious’ and now ‘outrageously funny’. All the same, it is also the time that she has chosen to send out those signals to my sister about ‘minding the step’. This time, it is my turn to grin from ear to ear!! With dad, the discussion as always has proceeded on a different platform – books, music, investments, the irony of how we so easily complicate our lives, as well as a rather formal talk on how the married life went on. And you know how it is with sisters, you don’t need solid stuff to speak and can get away with all sorts of nonsense!

The most fascinating part of it all is how everything fell into place, the emotions, the long-established signals of communication and the unchanged meaning of silence. And then there are these other things – dad’s driver who taught us Gujarati, and this wonderful little angel who is all but three, living in the same building. She has the most beautiful and adorable pair of eyes that I have seen in a long time. She speaks Gujju, and I speak everything else other than that and she still is so much fun to hang around with!

In between all this I miss him and wonder how he is taking care of himself, starting from what he is eating. Despite all those petty fights and admonitions (fond though they are) we throw at each other over the phone, I deeply wish he were here. I wish I can hold his hand and lean on his shoulder and whisper softly how I miss him.

And yet, I revisit carelessness every night, as I lie curled in my mom’s lap. After all, it is a means to satisfy that burning desire to be a child once again, especially when your little one is already telling you through her soft kicks that it’s time for this woman in her mom’s lap to change roles, very soon.

19 comments:

Vani Viswanathan said...

*Mentally makes a note about the role-changing part*
It's been a fun few days in the same home! And the next time, there'll be so much more :D

Krish said...

What a fantastic news to start my day with!! Congrats..congrats once again!!...Its so nice to break the silence of the blog!

Raghini said...

Congrats Mam :)

Suchi said...

Know you, I do not;
But your life
And your joy
And everything common to them
Makes me smile:)

To childhood, To motherhood, To childhood!!!

Harish said...

U r back...and back with a bang :-)

"You don’t worry about what’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and it is all piled in copious amounts on a the ‘stainless steel plate’ that exclusively belonged to you ever since you came into this world."

"do you have to remind mom about what would tickle your taste buds?"

"it is a means to satisfy that burning desire to be a child once again"

Ur post made me miss home more than anything.I could trade anything now to go to my home and be with my mom.
Well...I hope my wish becomes true soon. :-)

Anonymous said...

Though I knew a post on these subject lines was on the way, it did not stop me from enjoying what you have written. You have very nicely broken the suspense of your less active blog presence, to your readers, who have been vainly refreshing their web page for quite some time now.
Very nicely written ! It was a pleasure to read.

Bijesh said...

oh wow!!!! congratulations. :)

Anonymous said...

yes..the fun days that one spends with parents and sibling (especially if u r married..being the child again)..i especially liked the part of the change of roles... very nice post :)

RS said...

Congratulations and best wishes! Glad to see you back in this space :)

Kavi said...

So glad about a lot of things. Your coming back here..coming back home..and of course the big coming that is expected !

Congratulations. And as usual, so wonderfuly written !

Anu said...

Dear All,
What do I say? I am so touched by the warmth in all your comments. Thank you so much! :).

Vani, am glad the first comment is yours!! Next time, well yes, its gonna be more fun! :)

Krish, hey thanks..it felt good to see your comment too! :)

Raghini, wow! What a surprise..been long..How're you doing?? and yes, thanks! :)

Suchitra, that was a short and sweet poetic comment..thanks! :)

Harish, hey! there you are. I can always count on you to leave a comment everytime I am out with a post. Thanks for hanging around! :)

Akila, coming from you, I treasure your compliment! :)

Biju, :)..thanks, how have you been?

Priya, glad you enjoyed the part you mentioned..keep visiting! :)

RS, long time!! Howdido?? Thanks a ton for those lines! :)

Kavi, am glad to see such a warm comment from you too! Thanks! :)

Sandhya Ramachandran said...

what a beautiful post!!!

LOVED the way you'd written it! :) Worded everything so brilliantly in a smooth flow of words!

Loved the coinage 'unchanged meaning of silence'!

And yes... I met that adorable Gujju kid too! :D

And most importantly- A million congratulations! I'm so happy to har this lovely news! :)

Sandhya Ramachandran said...

I've never read anything more beautiful and true!

:)

Thank you for writing this post which I found between those 'yellowing pages':
http://anuforyou.blogspot.com/2005/02/between-you-and-me.html#comments

Praveen Krishnan said...

Hi,

Just hit your blog page through a reference, and to say the least, it is just brilliant. A wonderful post, and congrats on elevating your post in womanhood. Once again, this is a lovely blog!

Anu said...

Sandhya, My God!! You do manage to convey your excitement every time you leave a comment! :) Thank you so much for all that you have written and glad you enjoyed reading that archived post! :)

Praveen gk, Hi there and welcome! Thanks for your comment and truly glad you found this blog interesting! :). Please keep visiting.

Sunita said...

Hey, Been here couple of times and saw nothing and wondered what happened.

Anyway, Congratulations and wait to read more of you.

யாத்ரீகன் said...

hii anu, Vaazhthukazh.. Congrats .. and it was a classy post .. just enjoyed the post like anything.. being a guy i was able to feel the thoughts that would run thro a girl during such moments.. the credit does goes to your writting.. thnx for the wonderful post..

Anu said...

Sunita, hey! thanks! :)

Yaathrigan, glad to see you here and thanks a lot for your comment! :)

Void said...

Should i say...pinnacle of womanhood? ya why not? nothing else in this world can match this aspect of her, the mother, the life giver, unconditional offer of love, despite the pains the joyous bundle would give, yet the defining moment or at least one such moment would be when the mother wants to walk two paths at the same time, motherhood is a career by itself, if understood properly.....good luck