Calling me back to my home...

Dear blog,

Almost 5 months have past since I last went to my home. And I am growing home sick like never before. Coming from a joint family has its own share of disadvantages. You get pampered. Not to luxury, but emotional security.

I have a really big family. I have 'em all. To start with, a very religious and ever blessing pious soul, my grandmother. The lady of practical wisdom who introduced me to the world of numbers through her 'pahadas' ie, the multiplication tables, that she still remembers. She is the gentlest creature I have ever seen. At least to me.
She doubts whether she will live long enough to see me getting married. So whenever I sit beside her, she starts singing the traditional marriage lokgeets with me being the groom. And I listen to it all. Its not that I am even slightly interested in my marriage prospects. I just like listening to it when she sings.
And she sings to her heart's content before going back to her daily worship  bhajans.
Sometimes I feel like recording her singing for me. Maybe this vacation I will.

Then my chronically unhealthy but really wise grandfather. He is THE man for me. The sole savior of my entire family tree, when it needed him the most. Had he not come in Patna to accept the clerk job and retire as the 'Bada babu' of the energy deptt., Govt. of Bihar, I would have never reached where I, and my family are right now. We might have been just another farmer in the small village at the Jahanabad- Nalanda border. Or may be worse. And though he knows I am more interested in doing an MBA, he still continues to inspire me to become and IAS. I know he means it when he says that he has envied Govt. high ranking officials all life long.
Though he suffers from constant stomach ailments, he just can not stop eating fish - the root of it all.
My grandfather will never change. And I know it. That's why I enjoy eating fish - with thick mustard paste rich curry, sitting just beside him. Over the years, even I have developed this strong relish for Fish. Its my grandfather's dominant trait, after all. :)

My mother. Do I need to write about her? Doesn't being a mother to me explain it all? She is the root from where my soul has grown. She has treated me like a king. Always. I had always been the thin - frail kid, shorter and weaker than almost all others of my class. And still if I can find one reason why I was able to be the star of the school, the topper among the toppers, the one who had the guts to represent the whole class in front of any teacher, the one who was the district topper with 97% in CBSE Boards, the one who never accepted any other rival's reign... was because I knew my mother believed in me. She said that there was  no connection between being physically weak and being emotionally weak. She believed that there was nothing I could not do. And she has been right, I guess. :)

My father. Oh, he is my idol when it comes to public speaking. Being a successful entrepreneur after having failed as a university lecturer, my father knows how to do business. But more importantly, he knows how to deal with people. Whenever he and I sit beside the bookshop counter, he tells me how dealing with people is the most important trait of a successful businessman, and a successful person. He has this strange quality of recognising the region and the local ethnicity of any arbitrary man through the accent of hindi he uses.
An expressive master of spoken hindi dialects. That's my father.

Then come my siblings. My elder sister. I know I have fought a lot with her. Over petty issues. My first 12-14 years of life have gone busy fighting with her. Now whenever we meet, we remember our old play days and laugh about it. She has matured now. Doesn't speak to me much, But is very much attached to the family, and is one important part of it. She likes to watch regular K-serials, worships Shahid, Hrithik and Shahrukh, and is deeply religious. And yes, she cooks real good. She knows I am the biggest fan of her cooking skills.

My younger brother. Amit. He is the style icon. Is way more smart and good looking than me ( average looks), knows what's in vogue, sports an updated hairstyle, and perhaps has a girl friend too. But from inside, I know he's a kid. And a lovely one. He is so loyal. Worships me. Has full faith in my abilities. Never fails to boast about my academic achievements, amongst his friends.
In my last vacation, a lizard was squashed between the jambs of our study room window - the room where me and Amit sleep. I almost vomited seeing the innards hanging loosely of the poor lizard. Ran short of guts to touch it even with a wooden stick. And then Amit came to my rescue. He pushed away the Lizard using the stick.
And we both discovered rather nauseatingly that the poor lizard was still alive. I knew I could do everything save poking that lizard with that stick. And Amit took the baton from me, literally. :)

And then come my two uncles... my aunts... their kids... I miss them all. My youngest cousin sister, Meethi has just joined her KG classes. When she sports that pony tail (sometimes double), she becomes the cutest creature on this whole earth.
Man, I miss her a lot.
Once I told her that I will give her whatever she wanted as her birthday gift. She told me to get the title track of 'Don'. :)
 Loves Shahrukh Khan more than any worldly stuff. Till now. :P

I miss them. I miss them all. I want to leave this internship right here. I want to get back. Get back to my roots. Get back to the people to whom I belong. Go to my village and lay on the low-lying mango branch as I always used to do in my childhood. Go to my bookshop and help my father in dealing with the customers. Sit beside my grandmother and listen to her folksongs, with me being the hero. Sit beside my grandfather and eat fish curry- full of thick mustard paste.

Here I feel very lonely. Every person seems like a stranger. I can not stand my loneliness anymore. Have to get revitalised.

But I guess I have to complete another month of my internship before i go back.
Sad, but true.


Alok K.
May 11th 2010