I’ve had such an intensely satisfying Christmas holiday – probably one of the best ever and it’s been an entire month of excitement. My mom and Veena auntie came to Chennai to check out my digs on Dec 6 and stayed for a week. We did the usual – visited my favorite haunts, went to all the shopping hotspots, met up with Vivek and had a delightful dinner at my favorite café, had dinner with a few relatives and ended the week with an adventurous overnight train ride to Bangalore where Veena auntie and we split ways. This was all during finals week and we booked the train for the evening of the last day of finals. I have to say, I had mixed emotions about the train. My immediate thought was, “Yay! Let’s go!”. Then the doubt began to settle in and my thoughts began circling with vivid images of derailing, dirty toilets, and terrorists. Everything was obviously fine and even the toilets weren’t too bad, although if you looked down, you could see the moving track underneath. Ick. So we got to Bangalore, and stayed at Laxman uncle and Meena auntie’s house and I got to see Leena after her move back to the motherland. She seems well and Bangalore is where I discovered that I do indeed enjoy Pupushphul. It was a revelation actually, since I used to absolutely hate it as a child. Maybe it’s just one of those things that has to grow on you. We did the usual things, shopped, ate, slept. I ended up getting sick from the train and had to take antibiotics, but other than that, we had a great time. Then we met up with Veena auntie at the train station again and took the overnight train to Mangalore. This time I slept much better and it was nice and sunny by the time we reached.
I always have mixed emotions about going to Mangalore. It’s always such a bizarre experience. 1. Because I have to reach into the depths of my brain to pull out my fluent Konkani which starts out pretty bad and then by the time I leave it’s the language I’m thinking in. 2. It’s always weird seeing people you haven’t seen in a really long time. This time it wasn’t so bad because I saw everyone two years ago, but it’s like, you’re supposed to be closely related and then you go there and you’re like “So, what are you doing right now? How old are you?? What happened to who? How did I not know that??” 3. No for the last time. I’m not here to get married. No. No. No. No. NO. End of conversation. 4. I’ve discovered that there is a deep rooted anxiety that comes from pressure to ‘perform’ in a certain way with family. I don’t know what the boundaries are; what is good to say and what isn’t? What are topics that are inappropriate? Can I wear that or is it too revealing? Why do they always make me eat so much and then tell me I’m fat? Why are they so fascinated with my hair color?, is it ugly? Why is it that they always ask what I’m taking if I take my medication in front of them? Am I not allowed personal space or does that not exist here?
I was so happy that I got to see my dad’s sister Meerakka this time though because last time she was in Dubai. She is as perky as ever. And my cousin Vishwas is turning out to be quite the medic. I had to have my blood taken and he did it at the house professionally and painlessly.
All in all, it was a nice trip despite the fear of death on the train, antibiotics, my bad Konkani, and social anxiety. It was nice seeing my mom and Veena auntie. I have to say, I’ve only not been home for Thanksgiving once when I was living in Italy. And both times I was so homesick. So it was nice to have my family here shortly after.
Yay for the fam.
Oh! And I forgot the best part! Ma got to meet A.R. Rahman! We showed up at Panchathon promptly at 8 the night my mom was leaving and he sat down with us and chatted about the school and his goals, etc. It was really nice.
