Mummy's day out

It's a much awaited day on the calendar,the day my mother decides or is forced to exist home after six years a to make a long trip up the hills to her other daughters home. The last visit was an astronomical disaster which left my mother so shaken she swore never to set foot in the hills again. Let's go back a few years,there she was in my home,staying with us because my dad had just passed away,wondering if she had to spend the rest of her life being shunted from one daughters house to the other. While she was getting used to the idea we carted her off to the hills. Everything about the trip was a disaster. The last time my mother traveled was twenty five years ago and since then the world had changed and not for the better. The trains were air conditioned but crowded,space being at a premium. The stations had no facilities for old people which meant a long walk to the compartment. For someone whose only walk is from bedroom to kitchen this is a daunting tast. Getting off at an unearthly hour when most sane people are asleep we took a cab up the hill with no help from motion sickness,only to find that the house was situated on a steep hill which left your breathless after a few steps,and when one finally reached the house it was cold and damp with no heating. Enough to put even a veteran traveller off visiting and for my mother a promise of a one month holiday ended in a week and me who was the travel agent cum companion bore the brunt of her frustration and ire. Back to the present and once again we planned a holiday to the same hills but this time the scenario is a little different. For starters my mother and I are going on a blind visit. We haven't seen this new house but have heard much of it,the husband is now my travel companion and he is an eternal optimist and can see the bright side of things always. He is a micro manager which means he will think of anything and everything. This time my role is that of companion and chief of prayer. I have bombarded heaven with my prayers I am sure god is soon going to be deaf with my constant pleas. We get an air conditioned station wagon to take us to the railway station,my husband has organised a buggy ride to the compartment which leave my mother delighted,he's booked us first class which means a clean cabin to ourselves and he has organised a break in journey for her to rest before going up the hills,a rest to recoup and an opportunity to meet her great grand children. My mother at eighty three is not easy but the husband had got it all organised. We arrive at out first stop to find that this station has no facilities for the old and the infirm and are forced to walk a great lenght to the car. The mother has gotten tired,and the early hour has left her sleep deprived and exhausted. Thankfully the grandson is on hand and the home is read and the bed made so she can sleep. It takes till five in the evening for her to regain her spirit and I am greatful that one half of the trip is done and dusted. My mother however for all her anxieties,can be pretty entertaining. The husband who had never travelled with her is in shock at her comments on several fellow passengers. Because she is a bit hard of hearing my mother thinks it's ok to speak loudly,she also believes that not too many people speak her language so she is busy firing one liners and laughing her head off at people. I shush her up as best as I can but the husband is seeing a new side to his mother in law and is not sure if he needs to encourage such behaviour or to just ignore it,but we are both happy to see her laugh,can be so bad a journey can it if she finds it so amusing.

Tomorrow is another day and I plan to spend the night storming heavens gates with my prayers for a safe trip up the hills after all I do have vested interest....I am trying to escape the heat of the city and take a much need break from mummy sitting so I need this time to be happy for all of us and thus we come to the end of mummy's day out

The elections

Born into a malayalee family it's no surprise that I am opinionated and political. Most of us are so from the time I turned eighteen my father made sure I exercised my right to vote and I have done so ever since . Being Christian ,married to a Hindu,with a fair number of Muslim friends,I grew up not having to know anyone's religion to be friends with them so it's scary and disturbing when the Indian elections throw up such hatred and below the belt jibes which lowers the discussion on serious issues and leaves me wondering why after being a decent country,we have suddenly become such bigots. The social media which is fairly new to most of us,is a real offender. All over it people are getting worked up (me included) and friendships (not the real strong ones) are being destroyed simply because some ruthless power hungry politicians have made us take sides. Do I blame the politicians ...well not really,their have always wanted power and will go to any lengths to get it,that is what they do. What disturbs me is not their shrill rhetoric but the gullibility of educated people who can fall for ad campaigns,social media vitriol and myths . Somewhere in the back of my mind I have always held a thory that education (the academic kind and not the broadening of the mind) has made us more narrow minded and more selfish. The average poor Indian will take the bribes and handouts given to them but will make a decision based in a completely different set of rules. We the educated instead,will rant and rave on social media and then sit and home and watch TV and get more worked up and come Election Day some of us will realise rather late in the day that our names are not on the list or we will discover a party which we simply can't attend or we will proudly announce that we use the none of the above option so no one wins....well the whole idea is to get someone to govern . Imagine if all of us (thank god we are a small minority of urban educated elite or so we are branded) opted for the none of the above option....we will be left with a country with no government. How foolish is that. This election for my city is just a day away and then I will have to vote for the ones I think will be better than the ones existing but it still leaves me disturbed