Nerve Endings Firing Away

The semester is petering out to an end and although I have a couple of submissions still remaining, all is under control. The last week was pretty hectic; not so much with work load but with the various activities I was juggling. Let alone blogging, I couldn’t even open my feed reader to read other blogs. Yesterday, I could finally surf around my frequently-visited blogs to avoid falling out of the loop :) Bongo is defecting to Oz Land, Rohit is quoting and commenting, Piker is purportedly busy but not too busy to guest blog on two separate blogs, Sakshi is well, prolific as usual apart from cheering on Aussies to a well deserved win, DesiPundit was ‘fomenting’ a blog-war between Vivek and Abi which ended rather amicably and in a un-blogwar-like manner (excellent reading though). And I could go on while quoting nearly the entire desi blogosphere but I guess I’ll stop now.

Another time consuming activity has been entertaining and making my mom feel at home whilst she is away from my dad for possibly the longest time since they got married (hello, what about the time he was in Australia for 40 days? Ok, you joined him later). Now you might think she could have chosen a better time than finals week to visit her son. But trust me, this is the best time. I work best under pressure since procrastination is my buddy when I have oodles of time and hardly any work to do.

Upon arrival, she did the customary inspection of our home and was visibly pleased. Of course, she didn’t know we had spent the better part of the previous day scrubbing everything clean. Of course, she was down here on a mission. Armed with tons of catalog material (and samples), she is going to finalize Ash’s wedding attire(s) before she leaves. She has come fully prepared with magazine clippings, sample material, and measuring tape. And she wanted to get started as soon as she stepped in. Honestly, the fact that the ‘big day’ is approaching hadn’t sunk in because we are completely disconnected from the apparent melee back in India. Yeah, yeah, much to the relief of my parents, I am getting married at the end of this year; fret not those dying to wish us, a gift registry link will be put up soon for you to convey your wishes.

Also certain truths about the guy’s role in a wedding must be dwelt upon. His attire isn’t important and is merely expected to ‘match’ the bride’s carefully chosen attire. I guess, he is the necessary accessory that has to just stand there and look (barely) presentable. DVDs of a recently married second-(or third-) cousin have also been brought along to explain the different rituals involved. Ash is actually taking notes (to pass on to her parents) on the pre-wedding rituals while I sit around muttering how redundant and boring this all looks. But no one is paying attention.

My mom is in an instructional (her favorite) mode pointing out intricacies of a Maharashtrian wedding to an equally engrossed Oriya Ash. The wedding will be Oriya-style but still mom is insisting on Maharashtria pre-wedding rituals that Ash’s parents have thankfully agreed to do. I am flitting in and out of the room while catching glimpses of familiar faces on the screen who have changed considerably since I last saw them.

I am mildly interested in the ample food and snacks that mom has brought along and she seems hell bent upon making me eat it in the month that she is here (wonder if she plans to take back the plastic bags that she has brought it in). I was a voracious eater but have considerably mellowed (not while wolfing down a steak though…sssshhh..don’t tell my mom) and definitely hate snacking. I’m an ‘eat at meal-times only’ guy and somehow my mom has been trying to change that for years and make me indulge in the ‘graze and chew-the-cud’ habit (yeah, even I wonder why). It is a wonder that I don’t have a weight problem (yet).

The initial wedding planning euphoria out of the way, she is beginning to settle down. After fighting the jet-lag battle, she is staying awake past 9pm finally. However, I am finding it difficult to keep mom occupied while I wrap up my semester. Ash works full-time so she can’t act the traditional and devoted bahu (would-be) either. I showed her the way to a nearby shopping complex and went off to study. I panicked majorly after she failed to turn up home at the time she said she would. After checking each aisle in Hobby Lobby and driving around to other stores, I finally get a call that she is home. Bah! I guess I can trust her now to stay un-lost.

The DVD player and the bookshelf are turning out to be a major rescuer. I pop in a movie and hand her a book and she stays engrossed in them for at least sometime. She has already seen more movies in a week than she would see in a year back in India and frankly, I think it is wearing her down.

Why am I writing this post when I could be spending ‘quality time’ with my mom? Well, thank heavens for cousins who also live on the same continent. She is off to California for a week. I’ll be (almost) done with my academic commitments by the time she returns so hopefully time will be better spent.