Life is full of lessons, but the most important ones are the ones we learn when we are least expecting it! The best lessons to me are not the ones that are taught, but the ones that are experienced instead.
The clock just struck 1:40AM as I sat down to write to this post. (ok fine, figuratively, it "struck", I just looked at my laptop screen to check out the real time). Today has been very interesting, right from the time I woke up.
I retired to bed late last night (read 3:00 AM). We hosted a dinner at home and had our favourite people come over. As always, it was fun - Mansion House, Singing, Cooking, Mojito's, "Iron Nail" episode and the dogs being the highlight!
I woke up at 7:30 - bright eyed, excited and looking forward to meeting family at Cochin. Achan Amma, Sree Mama, Kanchana Ammai and I are all set to go to Singapore for a family holiday! (Thrilled to bits! ;D)
Ankesh and Cyrus landed up at my place at 9:00 as promised and we headed out to Ofen for a quick breakfast after which Ankesh & Mustang graciously dropped me off at the airport!
Mini lessons learnt here:
The clock just struck 1:40AM as I sat down to write to this post. (ok fine, figuratively, it "struck", I just looked at my laptop screen to check out the real time). Today has been very interesting, right from the time I woke up.
I retired to bed late last night (read 3:00 AM). We hosted a dinner at home and had our favourite people come over. As always, it was fun - Mansion House, Singing, Cooking, Mojito's, "Iron Nail" episode and the dogs being the highlight!
I woke up at 7:30 - bright eyed, excited and looking forward to meeting family at Cochin. Achan Amma, Sree Mama, Kanchana Ammai and I are all set to go to Singapore for a family holiday! (Thrilled to bits! ;D)
Ankesh and Cyrus landed up at my place at 9:00 as promised and we headed out to Ofen for a quick breakfast after which Ankesh & Mustang graciously dropped me off at the airport!
Mini lessons learnt here:
- Waking up early on a Sunday Morning is not bad at all. It's kinda fun on the contrary
- Iced Tea after an entire bottle of neat Mansion House - Bad Idea
- 2 cups of awesome Hot Chocolate can make up for not-so-great breakfast
- It is possible to talk non-stop for an hour (even when you are running on few hours of sleep) and still manage to keep the person driving awake. Ask Ankesh - he'll vouch for it
Anyways, (I have drifted enough already)..coming back to the story. I landed up in Cochin International Airport at 1:30PM...The following are the events over the course the day and some of the biggest life lessons I have learnt.
13:40 hrs: Greeted at the airport by beaming Achan and Amma. That look on their faces (as well as mine) - priceless!
13:40 - 14:30: Some more non-stop talking in the car. Topics covered: Shopping Expeditions, Pongal Dinner, Packing Plans, Chat's Goa trip, random hoardings, jumping a signal and consequences, humid weather etc
14:30 - 15:30: Lunch and Malayalam Movie at home! Felt like heaven!
15:30 - 16:00: Ma and Me gossip time! ;) Quickly exchanged news, stories, updates and other interesting tid bits.
16:00 - 17:30: Slept like a baby! (With dreams as random as "calf-muscles)
17:45 - 19:00: Randomness. Driving, arguing, phone calls, blouse shopping, opinions, stronger opinions etc
19:10: Land at Velliachan and Velliachetan's place (They are home alone coz Veliamma s in Mumbai for 2 weeks)
19:15 - 21:30: Achan and Velliachan decide that it's ok to drink because I can drive back home. Didn't even realize that I spent 2 hours laughing away at old stories, going through photographs, getting advice, giving advice, arguing about maintenance costs in the city, discussing movies, politics and family (of course) secretly stepping out with Velliachetan for a quick drive and alone time.
Achan and Velliachan are in "High-Spirits" by now!
21:30 - 22:15: Dinner time around the table!
22:20: Bye-Bye's and GoodNight!
Technically, the night would have ended here! But, Velliachan and Velliachetan decide that since I am in town, it's time to celebrate - The whole gang decides to drive, pick up loads of ice cream and wake Sree Mama and Kanchana Ammai up!
22:30: Velliachetan and Velliachan drive in front. I follow closely behind with Achan and Amma (driving the Verna in Cochin's fun!)
22:35: Fast Fast stop and pick up 2 big boxes of ice-cream
22:45: Arrive at Sree Mama and Kanchana Ammai's place
22:46: Surprise!! (It was so much fun!)
22:50 - 00:00: Achan, Velliachan and Sree Mama decide to have one more drink (to give the ice-cream company). The rest of us have just the ice-cream coupled with arguments about the family, fraternities, entrance exams, yester-years, exchange rates and the like!
00:05: Planning for the next day. Bye Bye's and Good Nights (For Real this time!)
00:15: Back home after an awesome drive back and an even more awesome day!
Important Lessons Learnt Today (about the family):
1. Laziness is the middle name of everyone in the "Maharaj" family; and you know what, we are God Damn Proud of it! We work hard in our respective offices, some of us even wake up at 4:00 AM and jog (for the last 30 years)...but when we are at home..and have our legs stretched out.. We are lazy, plain lazy!
2. We don't listen to instructions too well and we don't like to either!!
3. We love healthy discussions about life, politics, the society and religion! To put it simply, We all love to argue. But what we love the most, is to argue when we have NO clue what we are talking about!
(Quotable Quotes from a discussion today:)
"Language is not a mode of communication, it's a mode of thought!",
"Let's start a scam!"
4. No one I ever get married to is going to be "good enough" for Achan, Chetan, Velliachetan and Sree Mama. Accept it. Fact of life. (Was told to me very seriously)
5. No one in the world loves you as much as these people do. Be it the ice-cream celebration, the extra peg they all have in your honour, the sparkle in the eye, the beans poriyal and prawns fry, the never-ending advice or the endless bullying - All of it makes every minute with family a treat!
4. We are the MAD ones and we stand testimony to Jack Kerouac's famous Quote
"the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!"
5. And finally, there's no one like family and there's no place like home! You gotsta love 'em.
(True Story!)
@God: Thanks for the Madness!
Ever grateful. Thank You!
Can't wait for tomorrow! Sleepy & Exhausted, but Excited Nonetheless!
Ta.
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