JOURNEY!!!!!!!!!!
Travel is very stressful for me; in a time when I can switch on TV, or open Google maps, YouTube and see the world from the comforts of my bedroom why take the stress of travel.
IT STARTS WITH: head of the family should be cajoled convinced emotionally blackmailed (which children do, specially girl) to agree for a family holiday, followed by a debate about where to go like I prefer spiritual tourism, or a beach side peaceful holiday, man and son likes historical tourism, girl likes amusement parks and water worlds … to come to a conclusion is not easy.
The kids start day dreaming everyday about the holiday; they share it with friends, and all excited,
IT MOVES ONTO: as the dates and destination are decided, it's my job to find different travel options, family loves train journey as we all suffer from road sickness, but also air travel saves time, so I try to make it a combination of rail plus air...and it's not easy to work out a proper package within constraints. A good part of my pre travel time is gone into searching options and making the final bookings. Then the planning at work , about who will manage in my absence, then at home, about who will be at home, where will the girls go, you request the man to give his choice of clothes to be packed, shouting at kids to chose their clothes, repeatedly reminding them to not forget the toiletries... I pack everything, cook some snacks with shelf life , clean the kitchen settle everything, send the jewellery to locker, see off the girls to home if they r willing to , handover the work to someone at office, get everything done and then start the journey, I am pretty tired by the end of the first phase….
Travel is very stressful for me; in a time when I can switch on TV, or open Google maps, YouTube and see the world from the comforts of my bedroom why take the stress of travel.
IT STARTS WITH: head of the family should be cajoled convinced emotionally blackmailed (which children do, specially girl) to agree for a family holiday, followed by a debate about where to go like I prefer spiritual tourism, or a beach side peaceful holiday, man and son likes historical tourism, girl likes amusement parks and water worlds … to come to a conclusion is not easy.
The kids start day dreaming everyday about the holiday; they share it with friends, and all excited,
IT MOVES ONTO: as the dates and destination are decided, it's my job to find different travel options, family loves train journey as we all suffer from road sickness, but also air travel saves time, so I try to make it a combination of rail plus air...and it's not easy to work out a proper package within constraints. A good part of my pre travel time is gone into searching options and making the final bookings. Then the planning at work , about who will manage in my absence, then at home, about who will be at home, where will the girls go, you request the man to give his choice of clothes to be packed, shouting at kids to chose their clothes, repeatedly reminding them to not forget the toiletries... I pack everything, cook some snacks with shelf life , clean the kitchen settle everything, send the jewellery to locker, see off the girls to home if they r willing to , handover the work to someone at office, get everything done and then start the journey, I am pretty tired by the end of the first phase….
On the way to airport or station the man starts his quiz, did u take the tickets, the camera, medicines, Identity cards, chargers , I say yes boss, the girl says array mamma I forgot my belt, but don't mind I will be buy new one, these days they r sold even in flights , once into the plane , everyone dumps their Id cards into my hand bag, I arrange them carefully, the man takes out his wallet and gives it to me , the boys removes his spectacles , the girl asks for iPod , my lap is filled with various items, I feel as if I am sitting in the bed room. I start arranging them, the girl sends a request mumma neck support, the boy asks for eye mask, the man Cribs about the quality of deteriorating in house service of airlines, as they keep him waiting for a glass of water..
after few minutes I over hear the son and girl fight like cat and dog. the girls complains with a frown face that we will plan our next holiday when bhaiyya is in hostel , for which he says mom will never go without me, and I nod in agreement , which irritates her even more and she charges at me for being partial to him, dad is oblivious to the surroundings he is reading the in flight magazine as if it’s a gospel and he laments about how much of progress and breakthroughs the west is making and how we are stuck in petty politics, as the magazine he is reading has taken him to a different world of discoveries the son finds it interesting and swaps my place with him and they both go on discussing science fiction, Hollywood…. I love to watch them engrossed in a discussion, travelling to the depth of the subject, parents can inspire their children more by example than by preaching, boys usually are like their fathers, imitate them behave like them...maybe there is no one correct way, or a perfect way of parenting, every child needs a different kind of parent, I often debate with my husband about are we doing it the right way? Or are we missing something? Under doing? Over doing? Not balancing? I get these doubts when I see my children not leading the ranks table, when they don’t make it through in an exam, when they lack behind their contemporaries, when I am told by my friends that I should pay more attention to their ranks , but I feel proud when I look at their human side, their empathy and compassion , I find no answers for few doubts, maybe I will have to wait till the end to see if I did it the right way , I feel it’s more important to keep a watch on their thoughts than on their ranks……..but this is a journey of learning and unlearning and learning, a very cyclic one , without any perfect absolute answers … I try to remain quite within agreeing to disagree with myself many times …….
after few minutes I over hear the son and girl fight like cat and dog. the girls complains with a frown face that we will plan our next holiday when bhaiyya is in hostel , for which he says mom will never go without me, and I nod in agreement , which irritates her even more and she charges at me for being partial to him, dad is oblivious to the surroundings he is reading the in flight magazine as if it’s a gospel and he laments about how much of progress and breakthroughs the west is making and how we are stuck in petty politics, as the magazine he is reading has taken him to a different world of discoveries the son finds it interesting and swaps my place with him and they both go on discussing science fiction, Hollywood…. I love to watch them engrossed in a discussion, travelling to the depth of the subject, parents can inspire their children more by example than by preaching, boys usually are like their fathers, imitate them behave like them...maybe there is no one correct way, or a perfect way of parenting, every child needs a different kind of parent, I often debate with my husband about are we doing it the right way? Or are we missing something? Under doing? Over doing? Not balancing? I get these doubts when I see my children not leading the ranks table, when they don’t make it through in an exam, when they lack behind their contemporaries, when I am told by my friends that I should pay more attention to their ranks , but I feel proud when I look at their human side, their empathy and compassion , I find no answers for few doubts, maybe I will have to wait till the end to see if I did it the right way , I feel it’s more important to keep a watch on their thoughts than on their ranks……..but this is a journey of learning and unlearning and learning, a very cyclic one , without any perfect absolute answers … I try to remain quite within agreeing to disagree with myself many times …….
……………………......
and It's landing time, all of them want their belongings back, it's another 15 minutes of packing and unpacking for me, we get down Collect our luggage and head towards the destination...
Go to the hotel settle luggage and it's time for some rest....all of them want help in what to wear what to eat, in packing and unpacking... but when I tell them to stop playing on those electronic gadgets or stop reading those fictions they find me too intruding and interfering and curbing their freedom even on a holiday, I find it strange...but they don't care....
and It's landing time, all of them want their belongings back, it's another 15 minutes of packing and unpacking for me, we get down Collect our luggage and head towards the destination...
Go to the hotel settle luggage and it's time for some rest....all of them want help in what to wear what to eat, in packing and unpacking... but when I tell them to stop playing on those electronic gadgets or stop reading those fictions they find me too intruding and interfering and curbing their freedom even on a holiday, I find it strange...but they don't care....
My routine is like as if I am at home..., deciding, packing unpacking their clothes, putting camera battery on charge, managing bank cards , cash valuables....the holiday goes on, for each one of us it’s a different journey in the same direction … but one of them take turns on their own to oil and massage my feet every night , for they know that I need it to get good sleep...
And it’s time to come back home, everyone back to their duties the next day, for me it is getting the heap of clothes, washed, bags cleaned, souvenirs mementos and gifts and also prasadam from holy place to be reached to friends and relatives, download all the pictures, segregate into albums, store to respective Google accounts make a cd, empty the memory card………
But the best part of the journey is to see the joy of family bonding, smiles, happy moments…
Mother is the heart of the family, she pumps love into relations, making them more meaningful each day, all the days …. My mother too was one such good hearted lady, I learnt a lot from her journey both good and bad, of all the important things she taught me empathy…the world we are in right now needs a lot of compassion to sail through …
This Journey is to constantly discover and rediscover till we find salvation from the quizzical right and wrong
This Journey is to constantly discover and rediscover till we find salvation from the quizzical right and wrong
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