Arrived in Delhi for my onward flight with about 8 hours to spare. Was enough time to meet yet another first cousin, first cousin once removed and a first cousin twice removed. In fact saw the twice removed fellow for the first time in my life!

It is pretty evident that some things have not changed for me… the curiosity about two wheels, the disdain for hair on the head, the comfort with shorts… These two pictures are separated by over 55 years!!

The underlings pulling the weight of the organization and the boss overseeing from the top 🙂

I was pacing up and down to keep myself active while waiting for my flight in Durgapur security zone. Suddenly, I saw most of the folks get up and walk towards the gate. Which was surprising, since there no announcements that preceded that. What was even from unintuitive that the gates were nowhere near where everybody was.

That is when I realized that the folks were excitedly watching our incoming flight land and then walked up closer to the glass panels to take all sorts of pictures.

Is that sign prohibiting you from taking your shoes off and go bare foot or from putting your feet up on the wallboard? I am in bulkhead on Indigo flight from Durgapur to Delhi.

Have you ever seen this anywhere else?

She stood at the gate and kept waving at us till she could see us no more.

I do not think I have any other picture where my mother in law is actually smiling while a picture is being taken! It does not matter whether I am in the picture or not!

Usually my Durgapur sojourns have meeting my mother in law, maternal uncle and Baisakhi’s son as mandatory part of the itinerary. This time, I was stuck in the hotel this morning (brother had gone to his in-laws) without any car. I had no ability to go see Baisakhi at her place.

Not to worry. She made time during the day and came over to meet me in her scooty!!

Ever since he was born over half a century of summers back, we have been very close. We used to write to each other when I left home and have been talking to each other everyday for the last twenty years or so. He always accompanies me when I travel in India. The car time together gives us a lot of time to chat. But usually they are interfered by his incessant business calls.

Which are interesting. Because at that point he proceeds to execute some dangerous maneuvers with both hands – deftly enough to make any ambidextrous person immensely envious. The process goes something like this: first, he lifts the phone with one hand and then uses the other hand to swipe the screen to accept the call. There is usually a second of thought in between – perhaps, wondering what the call might be all about. All this time, the car is moving and the bus in front has already applied its brakes. He notices that from the corner of his eyes and in a swift move, transfers the phone to his right hand, brings it up to his right ear, changes gear with his left hand while his head is cocked right to hold the phone firmly to the ear, re-transfers the phone to his left ear now using his left hand and then uses his right hand to sharply swing the steering wheel. He waits till he is within a whisker of defying the age old law of physics which prohibits two objects from occupying the same space at the same time. He does it so effortlessly that you would be tempted to believe that this is what he was really born for.

But the morning tea-time is “our” time. Before the day’s maddening schedule of meeting people re-starts, we always grab some tea together in the hotel and chat about topics that we chat about. On this last day, we were awake early and came down to the lobby at around 5:45. By the time we were done talking, he realized that it was already 9:15 and he was late in visiting his in-laws!!!

After my parents left, spending time with my brother is one of the primary attractions for coming back. It is not like we think similarly or are even built the same way – he is the risk taker in the family, I am the risk averse member; he is perfectly happy with his things and schedule all over the place,I am the only who has to write stuff down in a neat organized way; I have to keep all my finances in perfect order, he has a vague idea where his money might be…

But we complement each other very well. And we respect that of each other. THAT is what makes our relationship so special!