A rocking weekend

April 16, 2008

The family got together this weekend. Mom who was already here for over a fortnight was joined by Dad early Friday morning. We generally hung around, ate good food, went shopping, walked around the neighborhood with LG while he invited attention from passers’ by and did what we do best at times - nothing! The heat just got to us. It was feeling like a furnace and the entire day power cut just made it worse - unbearable actually.

Grand-parenting is a lot more enjoyable than parenting, so says mom. It is a responsibility-free phase of life where you get to enjoy everything the child does. When the child is your own, you are all the time worried about what to feed next, bath time, ensuring baby essentials are stocked up, cleaning the potty, readying clean clothes, sterilized bottles, getting the bag ready to go out, worried about baby proofing the house and what might be the next target - the list is endless, there is always something to do that you can never enjoy the moment. The more naughtier the grand-kids, more delight for the grad-parents. Every time LG climbed his way on top of the dining table to pull down a bottle of pickle or on to the sofa to unplug the mobile being charged, it put a smile on my mom’s face. Wonder if she would have been as happy thirty years back while we were kids. Growing up, I’d often heard how my naughty brother made mom cry as he never let her sleep in the afternoons and was constantly either breaking something or catching something creepy like a water snake. She says, seeing LG reminds her of those days. I’ve rarely seen her so happy. The two of them rock when they are together. LG enjoys her company equally that her absence is something he has not been able to come to terms with after they left this Tuesday. He can’t speak yet, can’t express himself like us but his actions say everything. His clinginess, his crankiness and the sorrow in his eyes shows how much he is missing her. It was funny to see how he played with Dad this time mistaking ta-ta for tha-tha. Every time anyone uttered the word “tha-tha” he would wave his hand as if to say bye-bye.

The party is over and it’s back to work now. On a unrelated note, a editor for a travel magazine wrote last week asking if I could do a 2000-word feature for their upcoming issue. I was all excited about it and the deadline wasn’t every tight either. The money was decent. I accepted and then on second thoughts had to let it go. The unpredictable Internet connection, family visiting, frequent power cuts and a demanding LG made me think twice. These are just reasons I know but this is also the reality I live with now. If only I had pushed myself hard enough, this wouldn’t have been a lost opportunity.