And life goes on!

During my vacation I was amused at how things haven’t changed much at home…Dad is still superstitious considering his strange belief that eating carrots are good for health…quite startling when you consider that he has a masters in botany!! Meanwhile Mom believes that we are facing a imminent shortage of food (which btw has no link to my consumption graph)…Why else would she insist on buying groceries every time I go out…Consider case studies below..

Me: ”Amma…I am goin out for a movie…”
Amma : “Buy 2 packets of milk and 10 eggs in that case…”
*duh…okay… :-I *

Me:”Amma…I am goin out to meet a friend…”
Amma : “Buy 2 packets of milk and 10 eggs in that case…”
*eh…now??… anyways… :-/ *

Me:”Amma…I am goin to Bombay …”
Amma :“Buy 2 packets of milk and 10 eggs in that case…”
* it can’t be!! :-O *

Me:”Amma…I am…”
Amma :“Buy 2 …” (stops abruptly)
Me : “What Amma..?”
Amma :“What were you saying?”
Me:”Amma…I am goin nowhere in life”
Amma: “okay.. :-I”
* gotcha!! ;-P *

Me:”Amma…I am goin to the grocery shop…Do you need anything? “
Amma :“nothing!”
Me: “NOTHING!!!!”

And after a brief pause.….

“Okay….Buy 2 packets of milk and 10 eggs in that case…”
* and life goes on… *

Living in such tragic environs it’s also the envy of many to have a bro who believes in God for all the wrong reasons…In one particular instance which left me shaken and stirred was the sighting of this remarkable man, kneeling down as pious as a bishop from Rome and praying fervently at the church…

”I believe in God, the father almighty…creator of Mohanlal and chicken curry”…

And I was thinking all along…things would change somehow as he grew older!! Sigh!

But then there are certain things which you never expect would change as it was proved recently…After alighting from the car my brother quipped...”Amma…you don’t have to lock the door…I ll do it with the remote”. She overestimated the technological advances cars have made in recent decades and left the car door wide open... It was after a brief moment and a few minutes at the porch observing mom who in turn was waiting to see the door closing act did we realize her sky high expectations…My brother looked at me and said in a tone which was desperately seeking sympathy...

.”You are lucky, Chetta... After all you see things like this only when you come down on vacation…”

Vacation or no vacation, certain things are constant…As is tradition in our family coupled with a hereditary desire to bargain with vendors especially the ones who sell fish, it is often with religious fervor we go shopping to the city market…And when dad alights at the palayam market he is a new man.. A man possessed by a strong conviction to get the best bargain and the freshest piece of avoli…someone who wouldn’t actually mind arguing that the onakameen is not fresh … someone who believes strolling across those stinking puddles of water and listening to the maniac calls from the fisher folk is the equivalent of a julie andrews singing and prancing at the meadows in alps!!! I ll never understand that!! Neither the post script which happens at home after every trip to the market... Ever since dad retired, he is missing the biology lab classes he took in school…I was not surprised when he pinned down a chicken in a vitruvian pose and started pining tiny needles on its body parts and explaining to mom the digestive system of a chicken…Amma being the english teacher listened to it with the same curiousity a Shelley or Keats would have about E.Coli bacteria. Those were days when I literarily wished we had bt. brinjal for lunch instead!

And to seek solace I visited my cousin who lives in kottayam…someone who had gone through a rough patch himself…The last time I met him, his angst was very evident…Evocatively complaining about a lack of purpose in life….It was heartening to see a very positive change in his outlook…He looked like someone who attended a couple of “art of living” courses and Robin Sharma lectures….But the happiness lasted only for a few minutes when I figured out his purpose in life was playing hangman, raising sheeps and harvesting crops in facebook…sigh…atleast that keeps him happy!! And that’s when I overheard his nephew talking in the other room over the phone…

“This time Pytho Korah’s theorem sure question daa…”
“no...no...onnum pazhuthilla…”
“okay da…”
“Rascals lawyoo….ayyo...athinte chit undaakilla! “
“okay da…”
“ninte achan schoolil poyyittu undoo?”
“really!”
“ettaam class veryoo??”
“am sure daa…you can beat it!! Don’t worry!!”
*click*
The symbol of hope and the torch bearer of our legendary academic heritage doesn’t disappoint me…He would probably end up singing like Susan Boyle…. “I dreamed a dream in time gone by...”

And so would everyone in the family…………..