Saturday, July 17, 2010

Home!

This week I did (seeing as I am typing this post just a few hours before I am going to go back to Bangalore) a short trip home for my mother’s 50th birthday. My visit was a complete surprise for her, and as I opened the door, she just stood agape at the threshold, completely taken by surprise. That was so worth it!

I took an overnight train to Hyderabad and then Pinni and I flew down to Vizag. We reached a day before her birthday and surprised her. The day of her birthday was spent cleaning up the house and making arrangements for the surprise dinner party we threw for her. It wasn’t much of a surprise considering how we were cleaning, not an activity you would otherwise catch Samee and me doing for love or for money. But it was a good party, with most close friends and family there, good food, lots of laughter.

I bought her a stove as a birthday gift. I can’t help but wince at the thought of buying her such a boring gift, especially because she doesn’t even like to cook, but that is all she wanted (which I could afford) so I gave in gracefully (ahem!) and bought it.

The day after the party, the whole gang headed out to the farmhouse. It was raining throughout, and the farm was a brilliant green, looking fresh and lovely. We then headed out for a trek to some nearby caves. By this time, the raining was coming down quite heavily, and we voted in favour of doing the trek even if it meant getting drenched. But the heavy rain became a torrential downpour, and even the drive became a pain because of the low visibility so we turned back to a grandmother’s house close by, where we hung around chatting and playing with their incredibly adorable one month old puppy.

After we reached home, we had Ash and Sim over for a while. Ash and I have been friends for over 15 years now. But then, that is part of the charm of growing up in a place like Vizag.....it’s a city where everyone knows everyone, and it’s difficult to not become friends when you end up running into each other everywhere; suddenly you stop and look back and you realise that even though you’ve left home long ago, and gone and made many more friends, some of your dearest friends remain the ones you’ve known all your life.

My friend the Scottish Muscleman (SM) came home too, and after we saw off Mahi and Buns at the bus stop, we went for a long drive by the beach. SM was in low spirits, and he passed them on to me too, so we ended up discussing topics which just depressed both of us. Once he dropped me home, Samee snapped at me while I bore her attitude with calm and patience (truly!), and then went and cribbed to Ma about it, who of course grabbed the opportunity to muse aloud at length on the ills of our generation.

But Sravan served me a huge scoop of Strawberry icecream, and as I type this post while my cousins and (currently) hateful⃰  sister play cards next to me, I feel awful about having to leave tomorrow. It’s like this EVERY SINGLE TIME I come home. I don’t have it in me to leave the day I’m initially supposed to so I inevitably end up postponing my departure by a few days. This time though I decided to stay firm (also, there are no tickets available for the next one week :-p ).

So I’m off tomorrow, and I will see you on the other side of the journey soon. Have a good weekend!

⃰Whattodo! My sister and I have this love-hate relationship. As do most sisters. No?

Already, I feel so guilty about hating her in this post that I want to declare my undying love for her and give her my new pink shoes; though I actually wont of course.....they are PINK shoes!

Sigh! I should have just wished for a brother. Would have made everything a lot less complicated.

11 comments:

Chinkurli said...

Ah yes, you got it right. As the cliche goes, my sister and I love to hate each other. Well, she does, and I stay away. Having a brother (elder, preferably) would have been so much fun, methinks... sigh.

Preeti said...

Hehe! Yeah, sisters do have that relatinship! I have a sister too.. :)
Oooh and, I am also from Vizag! As in my Grandparents are from Vizag and man, have I spent some AWESOME vacations there! :D

Ramya said...

@Chinkurli: Thank god! Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who has such ambivalent feelings towards my sister :-) And hats off that you can stay away...thats officially my policy but I never can actually implement it! :-)

@Preeti: Hehe...are you the younger one? And really, your grandparents were from Vizag??? Man, this is such a small world!

Jonah said...

I like your tag line

Sam said...

it isnt better having a brother... u know??

well... mayb u dont

Gradwolf said...

That sounds like one awesome vacation!

Ramya said...

@Jonah: Thank you! Though I'm afraid it's not original...I remember reading a variation somewhere and picking it up.

@Sam: Well, no, yes, I don't know. I keep thinking of Mahi as the alternative. It's not always a better alternative.

@Gradwolf: It was. Only, way too short, as all vacations always are

Amu said...

Vacation home is always too short. Mine hasn't started yet and I am already finding it too short :(
Ditto about the love-hate relationship but sisters are the best. Puhleeeeze...I can't imagine some boy as a sibling.

Ramya said...

@Amu: Just enjoy yourself at home! You can come back and feel bad about how short it was! And you sound like Monica when Chandler moves in with her "I have to live with a boy!". Actually I have a cousin who I'm very very close to, so I think it's not so bad to have a brother either ;-)

Prathibha said...

Ramya.. just love your way with words.. and yes every time I go home invariable I postpone my tickets.. it give me the extra satisfaction of having stayed longer which in the first place would never have been derived by booking initially for the extra days :).. I don't know why anyone has to live anywhere other than Vizag!

Ramya said...

@Pratibha: Thank you! And you hit the nail on the head when you talk about the extra satisfaction of staying longer. I don't know why anyone has to live anywhere other than Vizag either...Nike and I want to work towards a future where we can actually live in Vizag. Let's see how that works ;)

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