Home rocks..but I want it always this way....

10.2 hrs per day - Thats my last month's attendance record at work.. The average, of course...Rubbed my eyes a few times, pinched myself again and peered at the hazy numbers staring out of my slightly bluish monitor (Reminder 3: Raise a call to replace it)..The initial disbelief has since given way to thoughtful contemplation..I realise it must be true..After all, numbers don't lie. Its official now.

Work sucks. I am bored. Time to move on ?

Typical knee jerk reaction of mine..There it is.. yet another case of me arriving at the wrong conclusion from the right set of data.. Maybe I've suddenly started finding home a lot more interesting....Hmmm...

The first few months after my folks moved in with me were very rough at office and I used to work myself to death, leaving really late. Coming home drained, I would hardly get the time to talk to them and check if they had settled down fine. With time I found that Dad, who had lived almost all his life in Trichy, surprisingly settled down easily to a life of watching cricket on telly, taking walks and reading books (picking up even Grisham and Bach along the way) but strangely it was Mom who seemed to be struggling to fit in. Not content with just catching up with her tonnes and tonnes of cousins and reading and updating me with just what I "needed to know" in the Eco Times, my mom was probably hoping that she could connect back with the son she knew from 1999 :-) Needless to say, while it had always been amazing fun chatting up endlessly during those short 2 day breaks when I used to visit home, I found it beyond my capacity to do that on a day-to-day basis especially since we were now living together. As pressure at office eased off, I found myself staying back late for no perceptible reason, just to avoid getting back home early - afraid to know if I had ruint their peaceful life in Trichy by getting them to move in with me - afraid that I might be unsuccessful in hiding my increasingly unsatisfying work life. The last thing I wanted was to put my folks also through the misery of knowing that even after an MBA, I did not quite know what I wanted. It was during these times that the wise words of Zee and Priya drilled some sense in my meaningless daily routine. I started spending quality time at home and talking a lot to my Mom only to realise that though we remained stuck in our own worlds - shopping malls vs. kirana shops, non-arranged mariages vs. arranged marriages, watching Video CDs vs. Physical activity - we were still communicating and this made me definitely feel a little less guilty.

And then came winter.. and it was that time of the year when my adorable grandparents usually shifted from my uncle's place in cold Mathura to the warmer climes of Pondicherry. This year however, thanks to my tantrums and threats, I managed to convince them to spend atleast a month in my sleepy little city and even sleepier suburb. Even before they arrived, we had to make a lot of changes at home. Most importantly, books had to be provided for Grandma was a voracious reader who did nothing but read anything and everything that she could lay her hands on. Oxygen be damned, the only thing that mattered to her were books and information. So Tuglak, Ananda Vikatan, Aval Vikatan, Kalki, Kumudham, Mangayar Malar and The Hindu (page to page) became her staple diet. And I wasn't the least bit surprised when she told me that she had even finished the first two books in the Harry Potter series which I'd sent for my kid cousin Abhishek. As if that wasn't enough, she happened to read a news article in The Hindu about blogs and wanted to know every damn thing about them. Patience is not one of my strengths but when it comes to dealing with my Grandma I am blessed with 10 times more than wot I usually have for others simply because I am in total awe of her thirst for knowledge at her age.. Did I forget to mention that she is 73 and obviously not a graduate ? After hearing me out on blogs, she even cajoled me into take p/o's of a few of my posts to see how my blog was. (believe me, she is such a critic that it took me 20 mts to decide on which posts to take home) Then it was the turn of mobile fones. Having watched a TV program which ended with a competition where viewers could SMS their answers, she wanted to know all about fones :-) Today as things stand, I've been ordered to send all the funny jokes I seem to be cracking all the time at home via SMS to Kumudham.. It seems they pay Rs 75 per joke.. Trust Grandma to never leave a penny on the table..Now if Grandma sounds unbelievable, then Gramps isn't far behind...At 82, if he isn't watching horrible serials on Sun TV and then furiously debating a character's actions, then he is commenting on how Man U will is the best team in the EPL..Then there is also the fact that he religiously follows Indian cricket even when we play minnows like Bangaldesh not to forget how he likes any song that praises mothers (He gets moved everytime he hears those two songs - one from Mannan and this new one in New) And when he is tired of all this, he is either exhorting me to get married or exercise more often to get rid of my tummy - pls Thatha, two points - 1. if you so want to see a grandson married, how about Abhishek (all of 9 yrs) and 2. I dont have a thoppai :-(((((

I could say so much more but suddenly I am feeling really low. The month is almost up and I just can't believe how fast time has flown. I cannot imagine that in another week, Grandma and Gramps will be gone to Pondicherry and Mom and Dad are also away to Trichy for 2 weeks and I will be going back to a home where there won't be neone waiting near the gate asking me why I am late/early. :-((((((((

Home rocks.. but how do I make it stay this same way....