For the longest time, I thought I was like my dad. For the longest time.
In fact, that was up till 2 minutes back. 2 minutes. Sigh. I am my mom.
Its crazy.
Growing up, we never traveled. Never went to hill stations or some such...no wait- we did- I guess there was that one trip to Nainital when I was in Third standard...and of course the one to Goa when I was in Tenth..but you get the drift..never travelled...rarely traveled. I have only heard the following, "Lets go out for dinner" "No, we'll order it at home" or "Lets go to the mall" "No, lets go some other day". And having heard that, its hard to then pitch "Lets go to Manali" and get an ideal response from them.
But me- me is a daredevil at heart- so me thumped the chest, stood facing the twin adversaries and said "We....shall go to Singapore!" SILENCE.
Hmm- silence could be good. Maybe I have intimidated them to the extent that they just might say yes. My bravery, my in your face honesty, my stern unforgiving resolve..."Its too expensive", "I will not get a No Objection Certificate from my School" "And its too expensive" "Aur hum jaake karengey bhi kya?" "Do you know how much it costs?!" #Epic#Fail *sadface*
At the root of this epidemic, I have always placed my father. Sigh. Dads. Not open to change dads. Who want everything their way or the way mom-would-be-happy-with-and-leave-them-alone. Who would want nothing better than to sit in their favorite chair or that spot on the bed and watch a 17 year old match highlight in which I swear, I saw Kapil Dev with an afro. Sigh. Those were the days. Not about the dads- but the afro- D'uh.
And me? I've been right there along with dad. 100% LAZY bum. The word couch potato was spelt D-I-V...you get the drift. Anyways, my dad's the cutest. And I guess I'm like him. *Cute as a button*. He was the one saying lets eat at home or we'll go next year or Lets not go watch that movie because there is a ...wait for it...Terror Threat due to DIWALI!!! (To be fair - he just cant sit still for a 3 hour movie- and he absolutely HATES Ashutosh Gowarikar for making that 4 hour long Jodha Akbar that mom dragged him to)
So I too sit around at home...do not like going shopping...want nothing better than a book in my hand and corn puffs within gobbling distance. And so I had resigned myself to this fate of semi-dad-ness and happily drudged my way through life with nary a care, between the gluttony, sloth and sheer laziness. I slopped around in my bean bag with eatables within easy reach, a bottle of water on the side, atleast 2 books that I could grab at, and let me see....remote for AC- check, remote for TV- check, laptop on the side- check. See, that's the skin I'm comfortable in- with my harem pants and almost 10 years old shirt, I am so not my semi-OCD mom. And then...Bam!
We were planning a trip for the coming long weekend. Oh Wait- not my family- I'm sorry, we are the Scrooges. We don't do "all that". So, my cousins were planning a trip for the coming long weekend, and before you know it, their parents agreed to go, and then THEY called my parents, who surprisingly agreed- because you see, the idea did not come from their ever so sensible-but-mightily-ignored daughter but their peers- you know- the ones with white and whiter hairs? So the first I heard of this trip, I sighed. Yes, I'm sure you think it'd be out of pleasure- but really- it wasn't. Because what I honestly, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart wanted- was to sleep. Sleep through the weekend. Peaceful, blissful, quiet weekend- That was all I wanted. But really, I sucked up and moved on, cause of course dad was so excited about it. And I said- of course, we'd go.
But in this one moment of weakness, I asked, "What if I don't go...you guys should totally go ahead...".
My mom, of all the people, broke the pin drop silence that followed this statement and said- "But why?" And then, "Really, if you don't want to go, then its ok- We shan't go too because honestly even I just don't feel like it..."
My Mom. I realized that all these years that we didn't travel much, it wasn't because of dad. It was just because when you work full time and then come home to manage two drive-you-to-death brats, not to mention expectations of your in laws and a perpetually busy husband, you don't need a vacation, you just need some rest. Because lord knows, with 2 kids in tow, there is no vacation.
Moms. Don't we love 'em?
And me? Yes, I am like mom...but that doesn't mean I'm not like dad. What it does mean is that I can really get away with anything - and I mean anything- by wholly laying the blame of on either or both of them. After all, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree... :)
