Staying at your parents home and working from there have distinct advantages.
You get home food.
Due to the time difference, you can wake up late and stay up late, which I love to do.
Its on the tropics - hello, sunshine and warm weather, as opposed to grey skies and chilly winds in sub polar regions.
You get to play fairy godmother.
Cousins have this habit of sneakly growing up all too quickly when you are not looking. Such is the case with one of mine. Lets call him Matt.
Matt came home one day, and to be frank, I did not recognize him for a full five minutes. This is the same cousin who has mercilessly beaten me up and was beaten up by me - with some additional kicks and scratches included - in turn. So naturally, we were pretty close as kids, in the convoluted way only kids could be.
Of course, now being six years elder and grown up means he treats me with respect. Which is all for good, as Matt has grown up to resemble a baby elephant. Hefty, that boy is.
On my last visit home, I have realized that Matt had a girl friend. Of course I was happy, of course I promised not to tell my parents or his - love affairs while studying is not something our parents look kindly upon.
So this time, Matt's lady love wanted to see him. All of 20 years of age and broken as students are, Matt weaseled out some money from his mom saying that he needs to buy new clothes. Of course, it was spent to travel to meet Nannie and spend some quality time with her. He had made some similar trips in the past, where my dumbass cousin tried to make out with his girlfriend behind a police station ( dont ask me what prompted him ) and the police almost arrested them for public obsenity ( no clothes were off, and this is not a Talibanic regimn, but Mallus think that kids are born when two people hold hands and prefer to keep thinking that way).
And now I get a call from Matt, on my mom's cell. He mom wants to see the shirts that he has bought with the money. The money which he spent to go and visit Nannie. So, after a quick discussion where I felt like a criminal mastermind - Tell your mom that you left the shirts with your friends. They will give it to you later here from the railway station. No no.... they dont have time to come to your home... and get two of your friends to backup the story - I agree to buy him the shirts.
Matt's father called him and treatened him that he will track his son down by asking the phone company to provide his roaming location. Fyi, Matt was supposed to be on a place about 250Km and six hours by road south from where he now actually is. The Luddites that he and Nannie are, they got spooked and call me. The gist of the call went somewhat like this:
Matt: Sis, dad will surely catch me.
Me: What? Coz of WHAT??? And you both believed that???? HAHAHAHAHAA!!!
Matt will be spending the early morning hours of 3am in the railway station, surrounded by mosquitos. He will then come to my home, and we will go and get the shirts which are to be presented to his mom.
Do I think that Matt and Nannie are made for each other? Hell, I have no idea. Do I think they should get married at the end of their bachelor degrees? Honestly, I don't care. I would rather they go their separate ways if they feel that they have changed than them try sticking together just for old times sake.
So why do I support them?
Because I always wanted a big sibling to confide to. To talk about frist loves and first heart aches. To talk of first sips of sprits and lost friendships. To have someone tell me that the elders in my family are a bit looney and that they dont know everything. To have someone from the family to eoncourage me to make my own choices, mistakes even, and learn from them. But I had to do with myself.
Because they need to make their own life decisions. They need to learn to be adults. I had a chance to stay away from home and learn my lessons, and I would not want my dumbass kid brother to miss the school of life. And what better lesson do we learn there than that which is taught by Cupid? If it works out, great for him. If not, I will always be there for him ( and for her too), his big sister.
Note: My blog readers, especially the non Indian ones, might wonder as to why two 20 year olds are afraid of seeing each other. Its because of financial dependency. All said and done, a lot of 16-24 year olds who study do not pay for it - their parents do. Add to this kids who stay with their parents till they are married or even after that, and a society which mostly condones love only on the big screen, not to mention the highly volatile sentiments related to cast, religion, ethnicity and social status.... its not an easy life for love stories to end in happily ever after.
You get home food.
Due to the time difference, you can wake up late and stay up late, which I love to do.
Its on the tropics - hello, sunshine and warm weather, as opposed to grey skies and chilly winds in sub polar regions.
You get to play fairy godmother.
Cousins have this habit of sneakly growing up all too quickly when you are not looking. Such is the case with one of mine. Lets call him Matt.
Matt came home one day, and to be frank, I did not recognize him for a full five minutes. This is the same cousin who has mercilessly beaten me up and was beaten up by me - with some additional kicks and scratches included - in turn. So naturally, we were pretty close as kids, in the convoluted way only kids could be.
Of course, now being six years elder and grown up means he treats me with respect. Which is all for good, as Matt has grown up to resemble a baby elephant. Hefty, that boy is.
On my last visit home, I have realized that Matt had a girl friend. Of course I was happy, of course I promised not to tell my parents or his - love affairs while studying is not something our parents look kindly upon.
So this time, Matt's lady love wanted to see him. All of 20 years of age and broken as students are, Matt weaseled out some money from his mom saying that he needs to buy new clothes. Of course, it was spent to travel to meet Nannie and spend some quality time with her. He had made some similar trips in the past, where my dumbass cousin tried to make out with his girlfriend behind a police station ( dont ask me what prompted him ) and the police almost arrested them for public obsenity ( no clothes were off, and this is not a Talibanic regimn, but Mallus think that kids are born when two people hold hands and prefer to keep thinking that way).
And now I get a call from Matt, on my mom's cell. He mom wants to see the shirts that he has bought with the money. The money which he spent to go and visit Nannie. So, after a quick discussion where I felt like a criminal mastermind - Tell your mom that you left the shirts with your friends. They will give it to you later here from the railway station. No no.... they dont have time to come to your home... and get two of your friends to backup the story - I agree to buy him the shirts.
Matt's father called him and treatened him that he will track his son down by asking the phone company to provide his roaming location. Fyi, Matt was supposed to be on a place about 250Km and six hours by road south from where he now actually is. The Luddites that he and Nannie are, they got spooked and call me. The gist of the call went somewhat like this:
Matt: Sis, dad will surely catch me.
Me: What? Coz of WHAT??? And you both believed that???? HAHAHAHAHAA!!!
Matt will be spending the early morning hours of 3am in the railway station, surrounded by mosquitos. He will then come to my home, and we will go and get the shirts which are to be presented to his mom.
Do I think that Matt and Nannie are made for each other? Hell, I have no idea. Do I think they should get married at the end of their bachelor degrees? Honestly, I don't care. I would rather they go their separate ways if they feel that they have changed than them try sticking together just for old times sake.
So why do I support them?
Because I always wanted a big sibling to confide to. To talk about frist loves and first heart aches. To talk of first sips of sprits and lost friendships. To have someone tell me that the elders in my family are a bit looney and that they dont know everything. To have someone from the family to eoncourage me to make my own choices, mistakes even, and learn from them. But I had to do with myself.
Because they need to make their own life decisions. They need to learn to be adults. I had a chance to stay away from home and learn my lessons, and I would not want my dumbass kid brother to miss the school of life. And what better lesson do we learn there than that which is taught by Cupid? If it works out, great for him. If not, I will always be there for him ( and for her too), his big sister.
Note: My blog readers, especially the non Indian ones, might wonder as to why two 20 year olds are afraid of seeing each other. Its because of financial dependency. All said and done, a lot of 16-24 year olds who study do not pay for it - their parents do. Add to this kids who stay with their parents till they are married or even after that, and a society which mostly condones love only on the big screen, not to mention the highly volatile sentiments related to cast, religion, ethnicity and social status.... its not an easy life for love stories to end in happily ever after.
