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Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...

This rain here, outside my window is a big time tease….. It drizzles and tempts me with hopes of a shower to wash away this heat. It only drizzles. It’s like walking in to your apartment smelling pizza only to know it’s from the neighbour’s house.



The weather in Mumbai is nuts. Oh! And happy birthday gran!!!


One second you feel like you’re in a frying pan and then in the next before you can say ‘monsoon’ you’re drenched from head to toe. Well at least I can blame the weather for being the way it is, because it’s the weather. It’s supposed to be unpredictable {to all but the Met department}. What about unpredictable people??? Sometimes exhibiting a sunny disposition which only takes minutes to be covered by dark clouds of rage and thunder and lightening that continue for days making life humid and stuffy for the person at the receiving end….. On the occasions they do start pouring you wish the earth would split open and take you with it.


Yeah! We Indians have this thing for big families…… in other words you could say Joint families. It is good training. You will learn to weather any kind of storm, cyclone, hurricane, tornado, name it…… But it’s a life long course…
Most people drop out of the course and go for nuclear families, atomic families and the works…..…….


We grouse, protest, whine and are mean to each other….. Its routine…….. We have fun, huge gatherings, family outings and are an intricate support system….It’s routine….. We miss each other when we’re apart and shed tears when we part and spend the better part of the year waiting for the vacations to see the ones staying far off... If we end up under the same roof for a day more than the two months summer vacations encompass and end up invading the other’s privacy we start mentally killing the other a hundred times …….It’s routine…..


We can’t stand the way the doors are banged, the beds left unmade, the bathroom occupied for five minutes more than the allotted time, the food that’s another member’s favourite but our pet peeve. We always have enough space in the house to fit ourselves in. Irrespective of the fact that there are 12 of us and only two bedrooms...


We race to the loo first thing in the morning and to the door to get the morning newspaper fresh and not wrinkled….It’s routine…..


We make vacations historical, birth of babies breaking news, birthdays a festival that makes the neighbour’s kids go green with envy…. We make weddings unforgettable, and academic achievements resemble the declaration of independence...It’s routine...


We make life hell for each other, fight over property, and dig up old hostilities….. We have the memory of an elephant when it comes to remembering who did what to who’s grandmother and fight over it. We either insult each other or try to take a swipe at their husbands, wifes, in laws or kids…..


We are the households where mothers in law and daughters in law still view the husband as the bone of contention and the husband’s sister is the devil offering the apple……Its routine….


We are the only family in the colony that goes to the movies and occupies the whole of the last row or go to a restaurant and contribute to 90% of the cacophony and take more than an hour to order…That is ordering just the starters. The next door Khannas {a boring family of four} have finished a seven course meal and gone home meanwhile {they are gluttons too}…. It’s routine…


We make stories and break hearts. We laugh over ridiculous jokes and watch tearjerkers over and over again together…. It’s routine…


We predict when five year old Sharanya will get married and how and if three year old Aarya likes cars or cows….. Both of them at the moment are wrestling over a barbie doll's dress...{Can you beat that?}....
We fight for the remote control when a cricket match has reached the final over and simultaneously a movie is nearing the climax… The old yell hoarse at the young to turn down the music. But who is listening? It’s routine……. Either we just don’t get the concept of privacy or maybe we take it too much to heart… We treasure hand me downs… They track the growth rates of individuals belonging to the same generation. .. It’s routine.


We etch the recollections of loved ones gone in memories made of marble…. We collectively try to make sense out of the warbling of the new baby born this tuesday…… We have horrible secrets to hide and joyous news to spread…. We go on family vacations with members ranging from 2nd cousins to friends of our cousin's in laws.....We can depress each other to death or bring the other out of gloom and doom… It’s routine……


We pray together, eat together, hate together. But the best part is that we love together.


We are the perfect Indian Joint Family….


ENDANGERED SPECIES…ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION!


Yours, running to occupy the bathroom first….


Be right back


Falak

16 comments:

  1. OMJ!!!! this is ah-mazing!!!! absolutely simple...routine but gr8!!! every word is true...i noe it is ;) gr8 job falak!!!

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  2. Bev:-Thanks bev.... Yes thats how it is out here... Right now i am planning an attack on sucessfully getting the tv to myself......:)

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  3. Yes very very much true.................! IT HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA.................................!

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  4. This is such a great read!! Great job! Keep at it!! *awesum Blossom* indeed!!

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  5. Remarkable style and impressive writing!!! Keep up the good work!!! I am extremely proud of you!!!

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  6. Sparsh:- actually i think it can happen anywhere..... provided you have a gigantic and crazy family:) but there is something wackily unique about indian families i guess!

    Anonymous:- Would have been great to know your name! But the fact that you enjoyed reading this makes me glad nevertheless...... Thank you!

    Lakshmi:- This simply putting my life on paper or rather into words..... Thank you... that means a lot to me:)

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  7. This is really Uh-Mazing!!!!! You are super talented!!!!!!!! All your blog posts are awesome and really fun to read!!!!! = D xxx

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  8. Ash:- hey ash!!!!!! thank you......... it makes me happy to know you enjoyed all the posts!!!!!!! hope you would like to stay.......

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  9. hey bullseye. uve hit the nail right on. i'm begining to enjoy ur blogs let it keep coming in regular and strong

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  10. jonas sisters:- there have been times i have hit the hammer on my thumb....:) will try to be as regular as possible...... nice name you've got there!

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  11. Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family.They are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted.

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  12. new u wld like it. cant disappoint u now, can i??

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  13. omg...i loved this one too...very simple but with so much meaning in it...u r awesome..i mean it

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  14. ok im waiting for the nex one. look whos procrastinating

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  15. jonas sister:- yes, your user name has done anything but dissapoint me... my family is more like chiki en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikki .... we are nuts held together by sweet gooey love...:)
    i will be obeying your wish without further procrastination.

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  16. Shruti:- Thank you!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOO VERY MUCHHHHH!!!!!!

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