To be honest, I love travelling with my family. From saying absolutely anything random thing I feel to not caring about how I look, I’m always my true self with them around me. With us being together, even if we aren’t doing anything, we enjoy our time together and it fills my heart with abundant love and warmth.
What I love even more about travelling with them is how they are completely honest and their real selves around me, or anyone for that matter. They don’t switch their nature and habits depending on who’s around them. They just don’t care about tiny things like we do.
Talking about the things that can never change with our desi fathers and mothers, the first thing we have to mention is their desiness. I mean, we can take our parents out of the country, but the country never leaves them.
I recently travelled with my parents for a family vacation and gosh, I have never seen so much food in a suitcase or around the house. I mean food every frickin’ where!
In fact, even before we started our vacation, we had aloo gobhi and paranthas with us to eat BEFORE boarding the flight. Now, let me tell all the readers that our 14-hour flight had four-course meals, unlimited snacks and drinks BUT even then, we filled our carry-ons with homecooked food and desi snacks, like bhujia. Oh man, don’t even get me started on how obsessed my parents are with bhujia.
I told you!
It’s a borderline obsession!
Anyway, moving on. The one thing we, including my mother, two sisters and I, tell my father is to never send more than two or three photographs/videos to the extended family group during vacations because honestly, no one cares that much (also, he chooses the worst ones). He always agree but also makes three-minute-long videos to send (with us talking/shouting in the background). I mean, kya ‘family forever’ group pe photos nahin bheji toh rishtedaar bura maan jaayenge?
As soon as his long shoot was over, we sat down for *drumrolls* more food! I swear that on that fourteen-hour journey, we were eating for twelve. My parents think that our stomachs will always be empty until we stuff them with paranthas.
Anyway, aise hi khaate-peete we reached the land down under, Australia. And as soon as we reached my sister’s home, humne wahan ghar hi basa liya. From taking over her closet to setting our skincare station, we got too comfortable within a day.
From lauki and tori to adrak, every desi food item was bought from the market immediately. And masalas too, of course. We bought everything that was available – I mean it. At the time of checkout, we had about three trolleys filled with fruits, vegetables and snacks. I swear the checkout lady gave me ‘the look’.
We also set our snack station in the house, in case we magically run out of food. It had everything – from many kinds of chips and biscuits to chocolates. Well, not going to lie, it did come in handy during our night parties and chai time.
If we weren’t full enough from all the paranthas and pakoras we ate at home, we also found a million desi food joints in the city… just in case. Hello, there are other cuisines in the world!
Do all desis have their bags and one whole other bag for snacks for short excursions? My family does. This picnic basket not only had food, but also plates, spoons, glasses and what not! It was a mini walking kitchen, to be honest.
It’s a talent to convert any meal into desi khaana. I mean, how hard it is to eat cheese sandwiches along with fries on the side? But no, they converted it into an aloo bread sandwich with… IS THAT KETCHUP?
Let’s move on from food, I am feeling dizzy.
I think it goes for all of us desis that we enter a room, forget what we came for and leave. It’s just that it happens a lot with my dad – many times a day.
Now, you would be thinking that they must have listened to some great foreign musicians during our rides. Well, that’s absolutely wrong. They listened to punjabi songs at the maximum volume, sitting in an Audi, because that’s how they roll.
We had all the technologies at our house – be dishwashers to automatic robotic mops – but zameen aur bartan dono humne haathon se hi dhoye hain because mummy logic: it’s not clean until we do it ourselves. I mean?
Now, these were some common sights in the house (yes, they are chappals drying the washroom).
And, some out of the house (yes, that’s my dad’s head).
My father, who was a sports journalist for forty years, made us visit The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and we saw him becoming a child in that very stadium. He looked around the area more seriously than he took a look at our itineraries. We spent ₹2500 per person to see a stadium. Then he lectures me about saving money and investing it.
During our random visit to an adventure park, my parents also made me sit on a child’s swing kyunki unki nazron mein bachhe kabhi bade nahin hote. I’m a 28-year-old woman, by the way!
Nevertheless, their urge to get their photographs clicked at every single corner is adorable. Look how cute my mama looked with all those sunflowers in the background. *hearts*
After a month-long vacation, when we were all set to come back, my parents had four additional bags filled with souvenirs and gifts for relatives and friends. I paid extra bucks for those luggages, just saying.
It is hilarious how parents function but these little things, which I make jokes about, also make my heart fill with warmth because I understand them. They have always been their real selves with their friends, relatives or strangers, and they are still the same; and it’s heartwarming to see that. It’s good to know that there are individuals in this world who are not double-faced and are truly honest.
I might feel a little annoyed with their desiness at times but deep down, I know that they are the most amazing people on earth just the way they are and I love them from the core of my heart.