Wednesday, March 11, 2009

February 14th, 2009 - the Pink versus Saffron day

A phone ring disturbs my mother, who was enjoying the rare luxury of an afternoon nap. She grumbles and wakes up, answers the phone with an annoying voice. I, in a semi conscious state pity the caller and anticipate my mother getting frenetic. To my surprise, my mother’s tone changes from irritable to inquisitive. From another room, buried under a huge pillow, I hear my mother giving our address to the caller. I get back to my beauty sleep assuming that it is one of the sales/courier calls asking for the address.

In no time, mom rushes to my room and says, “you have a gift parcel! It will be delivered in 20 minutes”. I can make out the curiosity and anxiety in her voice. In an uninterested tone, I reply, “You might have been mistaken mom. It must have been those courier guys calling for the address. I had asked the bank for a statement to be delivered on priority.”

She refuses and insists that the caller told her that it was a gift parcel. I give her a deaf ear and get back to my sleep but she is curious and waits for the courier guy. Never did I see mom waiting so anxiously for any one (at least not for a courier person). Her curiosity makes my grey cells work doubly hard. I wonder if it is really a gift parcel.

Lying on my bed, buried under the pillow, I wonder who could send me a gift (that too on Valentines Day). Who could it be? A friend, someone from office, a shop I had visited recently, or may be a secret admirer. My grey cells in a few minutes felt overworked and stressed. :)

While I was still wondering who could send me the gift, the doorbell rings. I jump out of my bed and rush towards the door. My mother is even faster (faster than P T Usha); while I make my way to the door, I see mom already firing questions at the courier guy. Instead of signing the delivery receipt and taking the gift, she asks, “What is this and who has sent it?”. The courier guy loudly replies- “Madam, aaj V day hai na, issliye aaya hogaya.”

Mom takes the parcel and signs the delivery receipt. The guy at the door says, “ madam, photo lene ke liye bola hai”. Mom is furious and replies, “Nahi lena hai, jao”.

I am excited to see a huge parcel; mom hands it over to me and waits for me to open the card that came along with it. I am more interested in opening the parcel than finding out who has sent it. While I am busy unwrapping the gift, I hear mom saying, “who has sent it?”. “One second let me see what is in the box”, I reply.

I open the box and find a dark chocolate cake with a - “You’re the best, love you lots” message on it. Those words were enough for my mom’s curiosity to reach its crest. One look at her face and you could tell that they were thousands of thoughts running in her mind. :)

“Who is it?”, she asks. I look at the card, read it and have tears rolling on my colossal cheeks. I got so emotional that I completely forgot that mom was waiting to know about the sender.

“Who is it?” she asks again. I look at her, smile and say, “it’s from Arsh and Quds”. I am so touched by this gesture from my sisters. Mom replies-“Those girls have no work. What a waste of money. Who will eat this? Why did they send? V Day is not our culture and blah blah”.

I was surprised and started wondering when did my mother join the saffron brigade. My mom is not a person who would take sides and definitely not a person who would encourage the saffron brigade. While I am amidst my thoughts and hear my mom grumble, the phone rings again. It is my sisters on the other side of the phone. Without wasting a second, my mother starts her grumbling. I simply could not stop smiling and snatch the phone from her.

After I finish talking over the phone, without realizing that mom was probably upset and wanted to tell something; I head to eat the cake. I am completely engrossed in eating and a little later, realize that mom is not around. I sit next to her and share the cake. Initially, she refused but then grabbed a bite (I bet, the female gender cannot stay away from chocolate cake). :)

Mom was even more irritated when she heard my father’s reaction. One could make out her irritation/anxiety when she started telling about it to my father the moment he returned home after work. Her irritation knew no bounds when she heard my father say, “they are in US, they will probably have some influence”. My father had probably sensed her irritation and tried to be witty which only added to mom’s irritation. I jump in to tease mom and ask my father “why did you wear a pastel shade shirt today?”. My father laughs and replies, “I am supporting the pink campaign”. These words were enough for my mother to get frenetic.

Later, I realized that mom’s irritation was not because my sisters sent me a cake. It was because the courier guy had loudly declared that it was a valentine gift which made my neighbors jump to all sorts of conclusion. There is absolutely no smoke but the neighbors have assumed a fire.

I can probably understand (might not be able to relate) my mother’s anxiety. After all, it is not easy to be a mother of three young girls.

14 comments:

  1. Nice one, Asra. I like the way events unfurl in your narration. Good work re!
    Also, yeh bata, who else sent you cake/chocos/roses on V-day ;) ? Waise, are Arshi and Khushi together in the same city now? - ash

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  2. Awesome blog! I loved it...plus it feels great to have my name on it ;)


    -Arsh

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  3. Good job ....I can imagine each and every expression on mom's face by reading your blog!!!

    -Quds.

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  4. XCELLENT NARRATION...I WILL START WRITING A BLOG NOW.

    MAJID

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  5. AND ASRA, JUST FOR U 2 KNOW...IT HAPPENS 2 B MY BIRTHDAY ...

    MAJID MAMA

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  6. wow...was wating 4 this.very gud work.u r excellent nerrator.n that was such an adroable gesture frm arsh n quds.

    asra khan

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  7. I am spell bound..... I don't have words to express ........... its amazing..... It clearly depicts the love that three of you share and you know what...... I could really feel the smile that might have come to your face when you saw your Valentine's gift.............!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Rosy (Shilpa)

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  8. Thanks Rosy! How are you doing? - Asra

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  9. Thank you, Ash,Arsh, Quds and Asra!

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  10. Thanks Majid Mama!I am so glad that you took out time to read the post. :)

    Oh really!I will remember your birthday now. :)

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  11. Wow, Asra! Am amazed at your stories. I can imagine your Mom's expression and annoyance. :)

    And you ate the whole chocolate cake without sharing it with any of us. Can't believe u did that...hmmm

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  12. beautiful narration..........n really awesome gift frm ur sisters....may ALLAH bless u 3........hajera

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  13. the narration is smooth.. liked it.. :)

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