The great Indian Family

The nadaswarams were quiet. The guests were all gone. The house no longer resounded with the joyous wedding sounds. No children ran in the corridors. No music blared from the radio or music system.The rooms were empty.The beds were empty. Suitcases with clothes trailing from it were no longer on the ground.My house was empty, devoid of my children.I was like a ghost….an apparition gliding through an empty house.The essence seemed to have gone…..left.. ..Oh dear God, the feeling was terribly depressing. Was it  not yesterday that the kids were kids and all around the house? In the drawing room, in the bedroom, in the kitchen , in our bedroom wriggling to snuggle closer to me and push Dad out? Oh, those were fun times when the family was together.I sighed. Would it be the same ever?

No ,now even when they came, it would be on a month’s leave or a week’s leave. My house would be just ‘Maike’ now not their ‘house’ where they had been born ,teethed. crawled, toddled, learnt to speak, gone to school , college  oh the list was endless.Why was life so unfair?Why couldn’t children be with their parents always? Why do they get married and go away,leaving behind a heart broken Mom and  Dad?

They stop being kids but do we ever stop being parents? No ,when our children are babies we wait for them to grow up a bit, come school time and there’s the rigmarole of picking and dropping, of uniforms to be ironed, of books to be covered , needs of homework to be appeased worrying over results, ragging, bad words learnt , good habits forgotten…. The worries are infinite. The list is endless.Worries never cease Now , after her marriage I  worry about my elder daughter all alone in Sydney, was she ok, would she drive carefully, would she turn off the gas ,would she burn herself while cooking , would she……. Oh good heavans its tough being a Mother!

And coming to recently married younger daughter , I worry if she will eat well, if she will get along with her in-laws,(theirs is a joint family), if she will keep her room clean or if her mom –in law would crib if she forgot to dust her room!!!!. Oh dear oh dear ,A child is always a child to the parents.

Becoming parents brings a qualitative change in their lives. Children become the sole project , they are the be all and end all ,it is a bond that begins with the umbilical and remains for ever and ever.

I just have to learn to let go…The nest is empty , the fledglings have flown….but they will be back…….because and I have so many more experiences to go through…to share… I have to graduate to a grandma!.And to quote Lee Lacocca….

The only rock I know that stays steady, the only instituition I know that works is the family.! Three cheers for the Indian family!