Holiday Within Holiday – Sone pe Suhaga

To be in US with sons and grandchildren is itself a home away from home – from the already retired and relaxed life in Bangalore. If we get to be with my brother’s son and children in another city in US, it becomes a holiday within holiday. And to top it, if that visit is business-cum-pleasure, it is sone pe suhaga.

Yes, we are now here in Memphis, Tennessee State – a three-hour flight from Phoenix – to spend some days with my elder brother’s son Arvind, his wife Sreelatha and their two sweet children. Just ‘sweet’ will be one-sided; add ‘naughty’, and it will present their picture in full. But then what is childhood without being naughty.

Business trip – on retirement? You might wonder. Yes, getting up one morning as usual, Sreelatha found her hands shivering. After a host of medical tests and examinations, she underwent a blood-clot surgery at the head. She is now convalescing. We are therefore here in Memphis to help the family in whatever way possible – Aunty taking over kitchen, and me trying to keep the kids in good humour, playing cards and board games and getting defeated, sometimes deliberately. Consequently, the children no longer want to play with me. “Thatha does not know how to play.” So, in comes Paatti with her professionalism in whatever she does. And they get defeated too often. They don’t want that situation either. We are working a via media.

This might be our Nth visit to US. But we have never heard of Memphis. Only on coming here and being taken around places we realize it is the birthplace of Martin Luther King, the champion of civil rights movement in the 1960s. It is also the land of the famous singer Elvis Presley. “On the flip side,” continued Arvind, as he drove us past along a plain, vast well-laid road with forest-like trees on both sides, “Memphis is third in US in crime rate, ranging from just pick-pocket to….” No sooner he uttered this than my hand stayed stuck involuntarily in the pocket where the wallet is.

While a visit to Martin Luther King’s museum is on the cards, we are yet to take a call on Elvis Presley’s. Meanwhile we have already covered the Christmas parade. It was a treat to the eyes watching children of various schools marching past playing different bands, the Fire Department (a star attraction all over US for some reason), decorated vehicles representing hospitals, paramedics, equipment manufacturers, fitness centres, NGOs, and what have you. Gay and merriment was the name of the game.

For some inexplicable reason, a visit to the local Gurudwara Sahib has become a must during our visits to US. We have gone to the beautiful abode in the hillock in San Jose, and the vast one in Phoenix, and now to the medium size, but meticulously maintained Gurudwara Sahib over here. For a Sunday, much against one’s wishes inclement weather prevailed throughout, but it did not deter us from venturing the thirty-minute drive. Sreelatha placed a much larger amount than usual, probably a mannat, and prayed a little longer, to get fit sooner than later. The langar was simple but tasty. Yes, it always is – be it the Golden temple in Amritsar, or any of these shrines in US.

It is also our practice (for Aunty or me, or both), whether in Phoenix, San Jose, or in Memphis, to join when someone from home takes the car out – to Costco, Indian Store, Wallgreens, or for a doctor appointment, or to drop children at the school bus stop, or the school itself when missed the bus. Here it is accompanying just Arvind only. Alas, Sreelatha has been advised not to drive for some time.

This morning while watching Arvind and Sreelatha get the children ready for school, Aunty and I re-lived the experience of the tantrum children throw, reminding us of the age-old saying ghar ghar ki kahani, and asserting that no one can escape it.

Just two days of our stay, and it was nice of Sreelatha to share with us a whisper talk her younger son had with her yesterday: “Amma, will Thatha and Paatti go back or will stay here?” “What do you want them? Go back? If so, I will ask them,” Srilatha quipped. “No, no, I want them to stay here.” That was nice of him to feel so, although he is yet to establish a full-fledged rapport with us, as is the case with the elder one.