Whoa! All the attention!

In our family hierarchy, I am the go-to person for all communication between, and information about the older members of the family and my siblings. I think this has happened because the siblings are all away from home, settled in jobs and lives while I am still at home seemingly doing nothing (has anybody read this blog!?!?). So the siblings are able to know what is up at home and the parents are able to extract information about their kids, through yours truly.

Now this is not a role you would be happy to play. And the reason why you would not be happy to play this role is coz it stems from the belief of others that you have nothing worthwhile to do. I think that is the reason why Chacha and I bond so well- we are- in a way and in his words- 'the Bangladeshis of the family'- no offence intended to the country. But like Bangladesh, we are the people in our family who are not expected to do anything great and are left alone to carry on with whatever it is we do. Back in the day, Dadi would sit out under the sun during winters. She had a चारपाई placed in the verandah where she would sit with her ball of cotton and a tiny कटोरी of milk and make जोत all day. From her vantage point, she could see the front gate and anybody who came to visit her. I remember this one morning when she was expecting her oldest child, Rads' and SP's dad. A little while later, Chacha came back from the temple on his Kinetic Honda. Dadi squinted her eyes and said animatedly "मेरा पुत्तर आ गया", thinking it was Rads' dad. But a moment later she saw Chacha walking in and said "ना ऐ ते जगमोहन है" dismissively and went back to her जोत! Poor bloke followed dadi all day exclaiming "मैं वी ते त्वाडा पुत्तर आं"! See what I mean?

My folks and other family members usually leave me alone except the standard morning-call where we exchange pleasantries and hang up in a matter of a few seconds. However ever since I left from Doon to visit the siblings in Delhi and in Mumbai, I have been flooded with highly uncharacteristic lengthy phone calls from immediate and extended family. They want to know what the siblings have been up to, what their respective spouses have been up to, what did he say, what did she say in response, when did they come back from work, what did they say about the relative who is calling, did the spouse like the gift sent from Doon and on and on and on... you get the idea.

In the usual course, the older Kakkars call their kids and the kids' spouses directly. Now, I have been entrusted the responsibility of calling the parents when I am with my brother/sister and his/her better/worse half to facilitate a conversation. This puts me, as you can imagine in a very awkward position because nobody wants to talk to the oldies, let alone after slogging at work for more hours than is humanly possible. So I am quite between the devil and the deep sea because making that call would put me in the line of fire from one end and NOT making the call will put me in the same line from the other end. And as if this was not enough, I am now being flooded with calls from the mausis and the buas asking me to talk about them with the people who have magnanimously agreed to marry my demented siblings.

Let me tell you, this is the last time I am holidaying in a place that houses any relative of mine. :/