I missed my parents yesterday for the first time in my life. It felt strange. I wanted to sit with them in IIC eating fish and chips, drinking Kingfisher beer (with cell phones on silent, because "guests are requested" to do so in "consideration of others"). Being a saturday, I spoke with them, my mother was talking about a friend of theirs who passed away, at the age of 62 and "that age seems far to you but to us it is very near".
I remember this friend, I wasn't too fond of them, I don't think my parents were either, but I do remember she once said about me that I was a handsome young man. My mother replied to that, putting me in my place, "handsome is what handsome does."
The thing about my parents friends is that I usually like them. They're older, have seen more of life etc. and are usually more than glad to have a young 'un at their disposal.
My father's friends are all buddies from the civil service, and while bureaucrats can be very very egotistical, they are usually pretty open minded. (Though it takes a while to convince them). But I like them - they are usually well read, with deep knowledge of many things Indian, and there is a certain class that such education + experience imparts. Conversations with them are always fun.
Mother's friends are typically high school English schoolteachers - again a demographic I have no problems talking with. Conversations are less high brow than with Papa's dost, but more fun. (And we need that as well). Plus, there's usually some Wordsworth or TS Eliot thrown in at random intervals.
Why talk about memmy-deddy's dost log? Birds of a feather, flock together, is one theory.
I believe the real reason is that I like how my parents are with their friends. I see how they would have been before they became parents, if this makes sense. They're usually more relaxed, allow themselves an additional glass of whiskey (Papa) or rum'n'cola (Mummy), and momentarily forget I am their son.
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I remember this friend, I wasn't too fond of them, I don't think my parents were either, but I do remember she once said about me that I was a handsome young man. My mother replied to that, putting me in my place, "handsome is what handsome does."
The thing about my parents friends is that I usually like them. They're older, have seen more of life etc. and are usually more than glad to have a young 'un at their disposal.
My father's friends are all buddies from the civil service, and while bureaucrats can be very very egotistical, they are usually pretty open minded. (Though it takes a while to convince them). But I like them - they are usually well read, with deep knowledge of many things Indian, and there is a certain class that such education + experience imparts. Conversations with them are always fun.
Mother's friends are typically high school English schoolteachers - again a demographic I have no problems talking with. Conversations are less high brow than with Papa's dost, but more fun. (And we need that as well). Plus, there's usually some Wordsworth or TS Eliot thrown in at random intervals.
Why talk about memmy-deddy's dost log? Birds of a feather, flock together, is one theory.
I believe the real reason is that I like how my parents are with their friends. I see how they would have been before they became parents, if this makes sense. They're usually more relaxed, allow themselves an additional glass of whiskey (Papa) or rum'n'cola (Mummy), and momentarily forget I am their son.
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