Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The countdown has begun

With less than 2 weeks to go, we have started the countdown to our India trip.

'X' marks the spot on the calendar every morning while we make a big production of counting the days left for our trip and ‘marking the calendar’ ritual is accompanied by joyous shouts and a quick nostalgic trip down memory lane to revisit some of the boisterous family reunions of our past trips.

Plans to hit the movie theaters and the best restaurants in Chennai are made to the loud approval of the children. My request to stop at ‘Saravana Bhavan’ on the way home from the airport is met with utter disbelief and is turned down to my disappointment. Oh well, so what if we are landing at 3.00 am?

Suggestions from us to make a pilgrimage to a few holy temples are unanimously voted down and discarded by the children.

Bath and Body Works’ semi-annual sale in June is duly noted and the store is agreed to as the best place to buy gifts for the trillion family members back home. Costco’s inventory, we all acknowledged, is about to take a big dent when our family finishes carting the oats, Splenda, chocolates, cereal, Ziploc bags, almonds and whatnot from the Store to our suitcases. Wal-Mart won the vote as the suitable store to buy Pam spray, Bounty paper towels and Scotch-Brite.

Promises are made, yet again, to not fill up suitcases till they rip on the way to the airport. The 3 page shopping list (not my idea, folks) makes it clear that some promises are made just to be broken.

Reminders are made to all family members to dig up all the wrinkled formal clothes in the closet and pack them to avail the services of the ‘Dhobi wala’ in India. Thank you God!

Daydreaming of eating sumptuous wedding type meals on a plantain leaf is accepted as a normal precursor to the upcoming trip. Having already secured two invitations to attend a wedding and an upanayanam during our stay in Chennai, we acknowledge with satisfied smiles, that these dreams are about to come true soon.

Kids’ concerns about the heat, cockroaches, mosquitoes and lizards are patiently addressed and soothing ‘all will be well’ statements repeatedly handed out.

In response to feedback (I prefer the term to ‘complaint’) about my incessant ‘all-consuming’ urge to blog, I acknowledge, with a sinking heart, the need to ease back a little. At least enough to finish packing in time to board the flight.

Sweet Chennai, here we come!

11 comments:

Thatisthetruth said...

Chiths!!!

Yay!!!!!! *Nods head approvingly and waits with open hands to crush you in the biggest of hugs!!*

Waitin Waiting Waiting!!!!!

Bhagu

Anonymous said...

wow meena, how i wish we could swap places now!!what i would not give for the hot, steaming pongal sambar chatni and the naan aloo mutter combo of saravana bhavan. hey, dont even think of cutting down when in chennai.
i will derive vicarious happiness during your visits to the mayajaal and koothu galatta with our cousins.
krithika

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

meena i m really eager to meet u all after a long time and well said meena,for kids especially the mosquito,cockroach and lizard is very irritable and cannot be tolerated by them. I m also telling the same as u said to aarti nd sahana.Meet u soon.

Kavinaya said...

Great fun is on the way! Enjoy! :)

Sreelatha said...

Meena I'm reminded of the Niagara Water falls while reading your article. Whats the big connection here is your question? Your flow of language is simply superb! Well portrayed every Indian mom's experience before the trip! Bon Voyage! Wish you a happy and safe trip! Enjoy and think about us when you attend the functions! Please blog about it right away so we don't miss anything! Aurevoir!

Meena Sankaran said...

Thank you,everyone, for stopping by. I am very excited about my upcoming trip. I will try my best to blog while I am in India too so check back here when you can.:-)

Hari said...

Very good post, Meena aunty! My mom refuses to hear any 'no's' about going to the temples.

P.S.- If you want to go to the temple, tape ice to your feet first. The floor is so hot!

Malar Gandhi said...

Oh come on, now you make me nostalgic...wanna go home!!! Miss our singara chennai so much. Whatever may be the pollution, mosquitoes, traffic...the city has some energy!!

Meena Sankaran said...

"P.S.- If you want to go to the temple, tape ice to your feet first. The floor is so hot!"

Hari, both my kids agree with you completely. Thanks for the tip. :-)

Malar Gandhi,

Welcome to my blog page. You are right about our Chennai having some energy. Hope you get to visit home soon too.:-)

Nithya Praveen said...

He he nice read.I was jes going thru ur blog...first time here u ahve an interesting one:-)

Meena Sankaran said...

Nithya,

Welcome to my blog page. Glad you enjoyed it. I started blogging only last month but used all the take-off enthusiasm to post 14 articles in May. Let me see what I can do in June.

Good to see you here. :-)