Visiting Relatives

I don’t quite know if I enjoy this task or not. The fact is most times I visit an aunt or an uncle only when there is a real need to do so, mostly when mom wants me to go over & give something. I did that today. Went over to aunts house to give them some of the food that mom had made today at home for Sankranthi and to my uncle’s house to drop a cousin who had come home.

In a way I enjoy the activity. It is nice when everybody gathers around & makes conversation. Most times this is with the TV on. Really what do you talk with your uncle or an aunt apart from probably the formalities like “how are you” & stuff. It is nice to see how they are going on with life. It is nice to know how the household stuff runs. For instance at my uncles, dinner is finished by around 8:15 PM. And at my aunts, my cousin was sleeping at around 6 PM, the time I was there. At home here, neither of this happens. We have dinner around 9:30 PM & we absolutely can’t be sleeping around at 6 PM. I guess even on a Sunday this doesn’t happen. Of late I have really wanted to nap in the afternoons on weekends, but no luck.

The TV it seems has become indispensable today. It is very amusing to see how the Saas Bahu fare is lapped up at my Uncles. And those comments that come, “Oh she is back to it again”, “Oh not again” and a loud laugh at some of the comedy tracks in these serials. My uncle holding the remote & like the king of the house flipping through channels every now & then, my aunt & granny just sitting through it all, with their right hand over the left.

And of course, some of the default stuff, like “you hardly come this side”, “you have forgotten us”, “you come here & hardly eat anything” & so on. Let me say that this doesn’t come from everybody. Quite natural I suppose, but yes Granny does say this.

Its nice though all this. I am pretty bad at this formal sit down & talk about how things are & stuff. It just doesn’t come to me, at least not yet. But I must say its really nice when someone treats you like that. You feel good.