Settle Down Honey!

Settling down- I bet this means a whole different scenario to every person.

- Getting a job… that pays!
- Moving out of parents place… and then back in after getting renter’s-shock!
- Being in a long-term relationship… that lasts longer than the milk in your fridge.
- Seeing the world… through your own eyes and not the ones of your friends and family (or the travel channel!)
- Being in a committed long-term relationship… and not in the mental asylum kinds!
- Owning a home… and another… and another (peer pressure isn’t only for teens!)
- Raising a child… and not screwing them up!
- Rejoicing when said child turns 18 (refer to scenario 2 for how this particular goal maybe farther away than you think!)
- Coming home from work to know you don’t have to set the alarm clock… ever again. (Think retirement not death!)

And several more.

But today I talk of my parents’ idea of settling down. This would be rather mundane if only they knew the following details:-

- Where

- When

- How

- WHERE

Yes, thank you MS Office, I know I got “where” in there twice but it’s my redundant way of assigning weight to the important aspect. F stand for Father, I’ll let you guess what M stands for …

M: “So, where do you think we should settle down?”

F: “You know I can live ANYwhere, you should choose”

M: “Why not <insert city-where-dad’s-relatives-reside here>?”

F: “Ok, let me rephrase, anywhere but THERE!”

M: “This is tough”

Hah! No kidding! Sis and I’ve been spectators to similar conversations for more than a decade!

Fast forward a couple of years and age does its thing. My parents (read M) realize what they (she) want and it isn’t much …Family (and the feuds that go along with it!).

M now says that she wants to go back to where her sisters and Mom live. She’s said it sporadically now and then, but we never took her seriously. After all, the longest period they “got along” for is about 10 days at a time. And that worked splendidly since it was exactly the number of days we spent in India every couple of years!

I remember M singing “Home on the range” pretty often and while it’s not a place where “the buffalos roam”. It is a village where …

The sky is still as black as after the big-bang and the stars actually twinkle.

The horizon isn’t specked with dust that wants to conquer every pore in your being.

The only ‘noise’ you hear is the gushing water in the canal or the rooster that has no sense of time.

The smells that tickle your nostrils might be ripe fruit or blossoming jasmine and rose.

All this without the absurd real estate prices of an overcrowded, under resourced city. I guess some decisions turn out to be pretty simple after all …