A couple of days back, I was making coffee for Sharmila and the inlaws and observed something. First, as a background, my FIL has great intellectual curiosity and has the most open mind to learning new things among my parents and the inlaws. And he is the eldest of them all!

I had set the milk carton down to fix Sharmila’s coffee. My FIL read up everything written on the carton box and then pointed the part that I have attached a photo of explaining to my MIL – “Taar maaney je goru-ke antibiotic khaoano hoini emon gorur dudh tomay deyoa hochhey”. And added “Aar amader deshey to sokaley uthei bachhagulo duto antibiotic kheye nay” 🙂

Roughly speaking, it means – he explained to my MIL that the milk you are being given comes from only those cows who have not been administered antibiotics. And then added that, back in Bengal, kids wake up in the morning and first thing they do is take a couple of antibiotics 🙂

It is funny only if you realize the culture in Bengal. (Not sure if this is true for the rest of India). In Bengal, everybody over 12 years is a self-declared doctor. Given that almost all medicine is over the counter, people gorge themselves on medicine (the knowledge of which is gained thru crowdsourcing with their friends) at the slightest sign of the oncoming of an ailment. Especially “Thanda laaga”. Or “ombol” for that matter 🙂 (common cold and indigestion).

It would not have been this funny to me had it not been the morning call to my brother where he talked about his elder son having dripping nose. “School jaabey?”, I asked. (“Will he go to school?”). He responded “Hnah! sokaley ekta antibiotic charge korey diyechhi”. I am not even going to bother translating that 😉

For the first time, my MIL has been able to shake off her jet lag. She came into the kitchen early at 6 am as Sharmila and I were sipping coffee and chatting softly. The first thing MIL did was start complaining about “Kaal-ke tor baba khub-se tenechhe” meaning, “last night your dad (referring to FIL) had too much to drink”. For the first time this trip, she woke up before FIL. And she immediately started complaining that he is sleeping too much. And that alcohol is to be blamed 🙂

Sharmila, of course, had to protest (not sure why she cannot just hang back and observe and have fun)! First thing she pointed out was that MIL slept for a solid four hours the previous evening. Maybe that is why she got up early. MIL’s response was classic  – FIL slept even more the previous evening. Sharmila pointed out that the three of us were in the backyard for a clear two hours before MIL strolled in the last evening. MIL claimed that she was lying down most of the time – not sleeping. And in any case, FIL went to sleep before her. Further, she pointed out that FIL was snoring and sleeping uncontrollably due to all the drinks we three had last evening.

Sharmila missed another golden chance. Instead of baiting her mother a little longer, she blurted out – “But dad did not even have anything to drink last night. Rajib gave him some wine. But I had to have it since he did not touch it”. MIL looked at her for some time, decided that she was indeed telling the truth and finally settled down with her cup of tea. The “gojgoj kora” had stopped 🙂

And in all this commotion of arguments and counterarguments between mother and daughter, my FIL woke up and walked into the kitchen half sleepy wondering what the heck was happening 🙂

It is awesome fun to watch this family from a distance 🙂