“Really, what use of living in this country??”

The Mom has arrived. And till the baby arrives, she shall be my favorite bait. So I might wander off to different topics but there will be frequent stopovers. This is definitely not the first time my Mom has been to this side of the world but wonder and awe and disgust are usually expressed anew – just because. The things we are missing most sorely are:

1.The maids
2.The gossip sessions with the building-wale.
3.The maids
4.The sunny Hyderabad in general
5.And the other maids – not the daily ones, the weekly ones.

The kitchen is her domain. She loves to cook but at the same time is hopping mad that the dishwasher actually needs to be loaded before the dishes are done, the veggies actually need to be fetched from the stores before the cooking can be done, the laundry has to be taken downstairs and dumped into the washer before it can be transferred to the dryer (a whole extra step, which can throw your life into quite a frenzy apparently). And what’s more, the daughter and son-in-law actually need to work to fetch the bread home before it can be baked. All very unacceptable! While I hum and dance-about talking about how easy my life has become since she has arrived, she is still flabbergasted at how we can enjoy these miserable lives we lead. Last night after work, she saw me walking around watering some plants and mumbled

“What life I don’t know” (Heavy desi English here, but the Queen’s version does hardly any justice at all to the emotions to be conveyed).
So I giggle and say “I’m just watering the plants Amma!!!”
“Why all this when there’s no maali, no maid, nothing!”
“It’s three plants!”
“Put them in one place at least. Why in three different floors?”
“That’s ok”
“No lift (elevator), nothing”

At this point I laugh out loud. An elevator for inside the house!!! Before people assume that I live in a house with an East wing and a West wing and a North tower, let me clarify that it’s a regular suburban home...not very different from the home my Mom lives in Hyderabad but hey, definitely not the same it seems. First of all it’s the same physical and mental temperature in Hyderabad. Now that sentence is actually loaded. See my Mom is freezing mentally. In her very own words - “Physically I’m warm only but mentally somehow I’m feeling cold”. Now that just means that when she looks out of the windows she sees the white blanket Boston is under right now and it’s effecting her in unimaginable ways! :) We are yet to venture to the deck or even the garage so the physical warmth is being protected well, the mental part I just don’t know how to tackle. Permanently board the windows maybe? Suggestions are welcome!

On her daily phone conversations with my Aunt I hear her say “Never! Boston in winter, never!” Pause. “Yes, somehow bad timing for Gabby”. I frown and start grinning at the same time. Is she really talking about when Junior was conceived? Confirming my thoughts the conversation continued...”Yes, what to do? If the delivery was in August it would have been best. Now no other way!” she concluded.

I’ve heard about people planning babies so a school year is not missed or a tax year is covered. We should really factor in best visiting time weathers too now. Definitely time for a TurboTax kinda program that takes into account all of the above along with of course your “time of the month” and tells you when to excuse yourselves and go do it. Otherwise “Really, what use of living in this country??”. Really Amma, what use?! :D