Togetherness means Family

Family is one of the best gifts of God, a completely dependable bunch of faces in this big bad world. I have grown up listening to stories of how my father grew up in a joint family, how all his brothers, sisters and cousins slept side by side, how they quarrelled and how they loved. As a child I dreamt of a house full of siblings and cousins to play with. But I never got the opportunity to have that privilege. My father worked in Steel Authority of India and we lived in a township, while most of our extended family was settled in Kolkata. So I grew up with parents and two elder sisters by my side.

Today all my sisters are married and settled with kids in Kolkata. I stay with my husband in Mumbai while my mother stays alone in our flat in Kolkata. Life has come a long way, I have lost my father. But I believe he walks with me. My dream of staying with many people did not come true; instead we all stay discretely for a living.

Life in Mumbai is hectic, weekend parties and getaways do breathe life into our mechanical living. But that cannot substitute nearness to family. Sometimes when job pressure and commitments compels us to reduce our visits to homeland, we really feel homesick. After a long day, when the muscles give away, a mommy special steaming cup of coffee is needed, or a gentle running of fingers through hair or just a loving word. But these are luxuries. We can pay a bomb and take a sauna spa, but that can never suffice to the loving embrace of a mother.

Lost in my own world, may be dreaming to be with Ma.

 So our visits to Kolkata are our lifelines. While Avishek (my husband) prefers to chill with friends and roam about in the streets of his favourite city, I prefer sheer leisure. I sleep a lot, and eat whatever Ma cooks for me. I read and go through some of my favourite stuff at home. I relive earlier days and breathe in whatever freshness my lungs can preserve to last till my next visit.

This time when we went home, my in laws had arranged to celebrate our belated anniversary in The Park Hotel. With did nothing for the arrangements, from inviting guests to deciding venue and menu, all was done by them. I thought it was awesome. Generally our visits are not too long, for us to allow visiting all our relatives. So getting them accumulated under the same roof was the best gift they could give us. It was one of the best evenings spent in recent past. All faces lighted up to see each other and genuine affection flowed past. The food spread was awesome to say the least, starting from mocktails (virgin mojito), coffee, chaat to mouth smacking Bengali delicacies and later famous Bengali sweets. And the flow of events was exactly the way it is expected to happen in any Bengali family, all those who know to sing started humming our all time favourite Tagore songs and the eventually the number increased. Everyone was evidently happy, I was happy to see how talented my nieces are, they sang, they danced and made the evening even more colourful. This program lasted for a few hours, but the impact I still bear with me. Family makes us complete, a feeling that we lived again that evening. That was high point of our January visit.

Avishek, Mamoni (mother in law) and I 

Me with my sisters

With relatives

A candid moment

They blessed us

Family frame

With our talented gen next

A moment with Rabindra sangeet

Time leaped and we returned back to work life, though I adore my nest of love but sometimes the absence of near and dear ones around affect. When job stress takes over, we long motherly touch. On such situations the memory of that evening of reunion helps us survive the rough tides of melancholy and fills us with optimism. Optimism of meeting everyone again, assurance that we are not alone, gratification of having a loving family somewhere waiting for us to return!

I thank housing.com, for letting me share this experience and relive those moments. Readers you can go through housing.com's website using the following link:HOUSING.COM

Aritra Chakrabarty Sengupta