Aa Ab Laut Chalein

Tsk, tsk, what Doubting Thomases I have in my fan club.

Do my words hold no credence, people? Of what use is my writing when it fails to garner acceptance?

Wasn’t it Mahatma Gandhi who once said, “There’s no dog higher than truth”?

Barring a few, most of you sound like grandma who keeps telling mom, “You think this is all a big joke, don’t you?”

When she first broke news of the move to her family, mom didn’t get the reaction she anticipated.

“Hello, are you still there?” she asked over the phone. “Hello? … Hello?”

Grandpa cleared his throat and asked, “What do you mean it’s not a company move? You mean he’s going to quit his job? But what’s he going to do?”

“We’ll figure it out,” muttered mom, just before the floodgates opened from the other side of the world.

“Are you both out of your minds?” yelled her father. “Think about your children. How can you do this to them?”

“But we want the children to grow up with their grandparents,” said mom, trying to get a word in edgeways.

“Is this how we’ve brought you up? How can you take a decision like this without consulting your elders?” ranted grandpa, as mom held the telephone receiver away from her ear.

Grandma fared no better in the encouragement department.

“My neighbor’s cousin’s son moved back as the senior vice president of operations for all of South Asia,” she said. “They have a huge bungalow in Banjara Hills and a driver, two cooks and three servants. See? Nobody quits their job and moves back. Have you at least discussed this with your in-laws?”

Dropping her voice conspiratorially, grandma asked if the marriage was in trouble. “Tell me the truth now,” she said.

Grandpa grabbed the telephone and asked if the humans were running from the law.

“Of all places, why Madras for god’s sake? Yes, I know your in-laws are there, but do you know how hot it is?” he lamented.

“What will people say?” bemoaned grandma in the background. “No job also. How will you manage?” Was this the very same girl who had specifically asked for a groom abroad, she wondered.

At an age when most girls coyly declare they never want to get married and move away from their parents, mom cast ceremony aside and demanded her parents start searching for a suitable groom.

“I want somebody from the foreign services so I can travel all over the world,” she said, too lazy to apply her own mind to the civil services examination.

Fate brought a software engineer’s horoscope to her door. Temple bells tolled, conch shells resounded, rose petals rained down from the heavens, and the humans were joined in wedlock before dad had fully recovered from jetlag.

“Are you sure you can do this?” ask both sets of grandparents worriedly, referring to the impending move. “How can you just give it all up?” they wonder, calling to mind the 12 years of memories mom and dad have created in their cozy suburban cocoon.

For the love you show your grandchildren dear thatha, paati, a thousand times over ....