Family Matters!

Sometimes, we complain that life gets boring too easily. I realize that often we forget that we’re behind the wheel on the ride and have the ability to start up the engine and do something fun!

The other day, something fun happened at my humble (read: notorious) home. First to give you an idea of what it’s like usually, I will paint you a picture of the “normal day” at my house. All of the eight people in my home have different views, habits and the likes. It’s a healthy thing and one can never be bored in that kind of a mixture. Everyday there is a new problem, topic to talk about, decision to make, etc. We live in a flat that has a huge balcony and our floor is the only one with that set-up. The voice carried by the wind while standing in the balcony is magical! Everyone in the building can hear you clearly if you speak at normal decibel levels. It’s crazy how, whenever there is a fight between me and my siblings, we always find ourselves just that spot to yell and scream. Our house has only short periods when pin-drop-silence exists. It is between 2am – 5.30am, 7am – 1pm and 4pm – 6pm. As you might have guessed, this is when my little twin terrors are asleep, away at school and stuck at tuitions, respectively.

The girls have their exams on since last week. No, there isn’t peace in the house thanks to that. Actually it’s worse now. The school ends at 10am and they are home all throughout the day.

“You took my book! And look how it is now, you ruined it. Now go buy me a new one”, one yells at the other.

“Why should I buy another one? It’s only a slight tear! Stop being such a kid!” she yells back.

All these arguments are only a way to waste more time. They go on about the most trivial things. And god forbid, if one is right and I support her. The other will go all drama-queen on me with lines that start with, “Oh! You’ve never loved me! I know it now. You have always loved her more” all this with an added stream of tears and I have my very own personal English version of Meena Kumari. At the end of this week, they are on vacation for two months! How delightful!

So what makes the day (the one I was planning to talk about in this post) special? 


That Sunday, six out of the eight people sat in the living room and the silence was unnerving! Two, were asleep on different couches, one was busy reading a book and the twins were busy studying their Geography. I sat there on the couch and just stared at the wall. I couldn’t find the courage to switch on the TV (cos they were finally studying!) and was too lazy to move to the other room with the TV. So, I decided to take a book and scribble. I finally ended up drawing my family tree. I finished 30% of my mom’s side and one A3 size paper was filled up. Then I realized I couldn’t remember some of them. Was utterly funny how I struggled to remember their names. Finally my granny, (who woke up cos of my weird laugh when I finally figured out the name of my aunt’s daughter’s son’s wife) started helping me. Then the girls got interested and so flew away the quiet Sunday mood.

But truly, this family effort of figuring out the tree was so much fun. All started out of boredom and ended up with mad joy that seemed like we had solved life’s mysteries. I knew the lower half of the tree well and my granny was well versed with the top. My sisters added in gossip about different people. The noise we made was no longer annoying but blissful. My uncle woke up and helped, the book was kept down by my grandfather and he just sat and watched. As I mentioned before, everyone in my home is so different that sometimes this difference results in lack of common points. Doing something as a family, although in this case may have been small, no doubt is the most joyful experience I can speak of.