Thursday, January 18, 2007

Avoiding the Bye!

There seems to be an allergic reaction in the family for Good Byes!
Nani (maternal Grandma) never went to see her sons off to the train station when they returned to their postings. She had lunch with them and then went for her afternoon nap, which was when they left home. No good byes.

Mum is not too far off, there are always big fat tears in her eyes when I leave, when my sister leaves, or for that matter when anyone leaves from home. Bearing in mind I am in India every 4-6 months and the sister is back home every few weeks, it is a bit strange. Mum starts counting days and weeks and soon it is a conversation which starts with ' its only a matter of 10 weeks or 20 weeks'. Counting in months sounds painfully long and so we seem to be developing a tradition of counting in weeks in the family. Every good bye is tear filled! Every time..and cynical eyebrow raising or cheeky grinning about her tears has a standardised response too 'when you have children of your own you will know!'.

I recently followed my heart to Edinburgh and then to Leicester and then to Delhi and then to Pune. Just to avoid saying a good bye at the above four location. Got stuck with Pune where the inevitable Bye had to be faced!
I think the allergic bye legacy has been transformed from being any kind of bye to being slightly more specialised. I think I am happier saying the Bye and going away then being the one left behind. Abandonment, though an inappropriate term for short time spent apart, is a nasty feeling..even if it is for a few weeks and its not abandoning as such.
Much as I hate saying the 'Bye' word, being left hanging around a metal railing while the traveller disappears into airport check-in is by far the saddest feeling! Holding on till the last minute and waiting for a final call, while your heart is begging, pleading and whispering silently, 'Dont go! Please dont go!'
Hate this good bye thing! Wish I was cool about it! But I aint a cool person anyways!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

very true...i hate the airport check-ins myself!

Morpheus said...

Hmm!Tell me about it!!