Brother driving. I am sitting next to him. Dad, mom and sister sitting behind. So far all the decibels has been provided by the back seat!

It has been only 25 minutes on the road. Dad has so far given us a running commentary of all the railway stations we will cross. And my sister has called up her husband five times already to give instructions to the house help on what needs to be cooked. She would start saying something like “get five pieces of fish….” and then my mom would jump in arguing “no we need two more”. They would argue with each other for a few minutes while my brother in law, I am sure, waited patiently. My sister would then hang up, promising to call back with better instructions.

My mom and she would argue, settle down on a decision, and then call him back. Then she would start “and take four cups of rice…”, promptly get interrupted by my mom and the whole cycle would start again!!

So far, five phone calls later, we are down with five items on the menu!!!

For the last two years my dad could not get out of his bed. This time, he is in an absolutely great shape. It is like the difference between day and night.

On our way back from his cousin last night, he could not thank me enough. Although it was my brother who did all the hard work, I got all the praise. Our family, that way, is very kind to me 🙂

If any case, my brother asked him what would be next in his wish list. He thought for some time and named a temple (a Kali temple) near Bagila that he had visited only once – in 1959! I was negative seven years in age!!!

But my mom interjected saying that her wishes is next in line. My brother enquired if she had a list herself. She said she wanted to see her sister (the one immediately younger to her) that she has not seen in a long long time. I myself have seen her, I think, last in 1982 or so.

Over drinks last night, we decided that my brother, sister and myself will take our parents to both the places. We need my brother to drive us all over. And we need my sister to keep our parents from fighting with each other. My responsibility was to find the places on the map.

So far, I have found in my Google map a village that seems to match my aunt’s village name. They have no phones or anything for me to confirm. And regarding the temple of my dad, I got nothing!! Following my dad’s memories from 1959, I have so far found a high school on Google maps!

Well, we will figure it out!! We are back on the road…

This is my niece. And those are her feet! And for the last half an hour, I have been unsuccessfully trying to keep my knees straight and my feet pointed differently, like her’
God! This is difficult!!

Two of the cocktails I prepared this evening with watermelon and cucumber and he is flat!!! Amateur! I am depressed with my brother 🙂

In an unrelated story, my parents have no clue alcohol can be colorless. They know how wine looks and that is a no no. But they have no idea about the difference between watermelon and Sprite and the one that had the same with 60 ml Smirnoff. As long as I have one only with Sprite and carefully offer that when they ask to taste, I have absolutely no reasons to scale our building’s roof….

I just have to figure out how to ensure that my brother does not collapse every time he drinks my cocktails…..

First we had a flat. Then we had the mandatory tea by the highway!!!