Second evening in Durgapur. Second trip to Big Bazar with Sharmila in the evening. If you are not aware of Big Bazar, think of it as a large departmental store. However, if you are aware of Big Bazar, it is really a code word Sharmila and I use to go to a local restaurant to drink some red wine. (my alcohol-disapproving parents have not quite figured out yet what do we buy everyday 🙂 )
Early morning. Dad and I are having tea sitting outside. Everything was going great till I pulled my running shoes out. So far it has been a 30 min lecture on the ill effects of running 🙂 His conclusion was hilarious – “Sutorang, jotoi dourou, hnaatu jedin jabar sedin jabe-i” (“therefore, howmuchever you run, your knee is going to give in someday anyways”) 🙂
Got down at Durgapur station fully prepared for the 110 degree day. I had my shorts on to infuriate my relatives, I had the loosest Hawaiian shirt on that my dad feels I can easily grow into only if I would stop running and my baseball cap on like some of those tennis players – to make sure I give my relatives some time to get used to my shaven head. My dad, had one look at me, chuckled and said “sokaley taratarir modhey tupi-ta ulto pora hoye gechhe” (translation “in your hurry in the morning, you mistakenly put your cap on frontside back”). I chuckled back knowingly…
Promise fulfilled! Last year, during a phone call, I had promised to come and see her personally. This is the 96 year old great aunt of mine who had accepted my grandmom and her kids into her family when my dad lost his dad (he was 2 then). Without that and the sharing for the next 15 years, there is no telling what my dad would be today. Or I for that matter. We chatted for two hours. Best time of my life!!!
Rich Irony: My sister from a small town in Eastern India called me up in the middle of my office meetings (it is near midnight for her) because she is stuck with a question while teaching her fourth grader for next day tests – Which is Rajasthan’s Blue City? Not that I am an expert on Rajasthan – and she is acutely aware of it. But unlike her, I can access the internet in a second!!!! And that is exactly how I found out the answer 🙂 (she won’t buy my claims that I knew it anyways 🙂 🙂 )
Hilarious!! During my daily call to mom in India, she started talking about the reading habits of her grandchildren. When it came to Niki (my younger one), she was desperately trying to decribe the iPad (on which Niki was reading her books during our last trip to India) – “Sei Je, Niki erokom korey dito aar sob kichu ultey paltey jeto” (roughly translated, “Don’t you remember? she used to do like this and everything went topsy turvy”) 🙂 I had to mute myself for 10 seconds 🙂 That was the most humbling description of an iPad!! No doubt Jobs turned in his grave!!!
After a week with my parents, now the next four days are focused on the next two generations. At a quiet riverside resort with all siblings of myself and Sharmila and all first cousins of Tasha and niki. Last time Sharmila and I had all our siblings and their spouses together was …. Never. The kids are ecstatic. The four of us are getting a good chance at getting in touch with our roots!
Well, that was my week with my parents. My best time each day was waking up at 4:30 to sit with my parents for a couple of hours in our garden. Drinking tea, watching the daybreak, enjoying the flowers, occasional question and answer but mostly quiet – just enjoying each other’s company. No doubt we were all wondering how many more such days we will have. The loudest conversations, indeed, were the silent ones.
