Friday, April 9, 2010

Homesick Again

My Dad was in town this week for his checkup. After much cajoling and pleading, he finally agreed to stay with me and my husband. If he had his way, he would have stayed with my siblings as he, like all Meitei elders, thinks that a married daughter's home is good only for a visit for tea. Needless to say, I am overjoyed and thankful hat he did stay with us and that joy was compounded by my brother and sister's staying with us during Dad's visit.

Like all good things though, his trip here too ended-- this morning. We dropped him off at the airport to catch an early morning flight home. And I am homesick again.

As I sit on the balcony where Dad used to read the morning paper during his stay, I think of the days as a young girl when making breakfast for the family seemed like a chore. His visit gave me the opportunity to make up a little for that. Now that I am married and hardly ever get to see him and Mama, I long for days when a simple task like making breakfast for them seems like the opportunity of a lifetime, when a simple walk in the neighboring park is a time to be cherished.

I miss you Dad, and I miss home...I miss the times as a kid when you used to take me with you to fetch the Sunday paper and ended up buying comic books for me, the rare days when I could go back home with you after school, and the times you had meetings in Shillong around the time my vacation would start and I could travel home with you. I remember the time I ran home to go out with you and Mama. It was Cheiraoba and you were going to visit my maternal grandparents and I was too late...I was inconsolable and refused to accompany Mafa who offered to take me with her. I must have been two or three then. Sigh. More memories come flooding and I feel like crying.

Yeah, I am homesick, yet again.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh god, you just opened the floodgates of nostalgia!

BeingMarried said...

I have shut memories of staying-with -parents in a numb part of my brain but reading this post, i felt like crying too :(

Mukesh Kumar said...

Tani Bhai, at 2 am, once I started reading your blog, I did finish reading your latest post. Makes me think of my parents too.

Thangjam Hindustani said...

Yeah...the homesickness gets even more worse whenever I think of how age seems to be catching up with both of them and that I am not around physically when they need me. Sigh.

Shilpi said...

Such a beautiful piece, Tani. We can never get over homesickness, can we? I never want to stay away from home.

Thangjam Hindustani said...

Thanks Shilpi. It's tough reconciling homesickness with trying to be independent.