In
my mind I always imagine, the words – that’s what I do, when I experience, I
imagine how the world can be distilled into words, how the moments can be
memorialized into mismatched metaphors, my mind jotting down side notes,
sometimes a whole paragraph. Sometimes just a bunch of mental Polaroid shots.
Fatigue
has been a part of me, it seems like forever… yet I never allow myself to
listen. I’d tell myself— I just need sleep. I need to be out and take Nirvaan
out too; and then I’d ignore it entirely and keep right on pushing.
And
in keeping with the push, we (my brother and sister) text-ed and decided we want
a family vacation. Vacation. On papers! For going back to this place I called family home for most part of childhood is anything but that!
Family,
that inexplicable thing that it is. The people that make us, fiber and bone,
but also the ones from whom we learn the earliest perceptions of ourselves.
They
are the mirror house, some show you small, some really distorted, some bring
out an unearthly beauty and some make you look like monsters.
Our
lives, witnessed in all its stripped-off-glory and vintage tint.
We
try to find our connect and it’s not difficult, conversations happening between
the indecision and decision of what to make for dinner; between the meltdowns
of one 4 year old, the nap times off kilter; the
first next generation at this family home, everyone trying to dote on him;
while he tries to find his balance, his space; struggling with
dehydration.
Between waking up and going to
sleep in an unfamiliar place, all of us talking at once.
Both
my siblings and the both the cousins have their stories. We weave and get woven
into the narrative. Not being the audience. But a part of the yarn.
Later,
much later, after the dust of storm of a new person becoming a part of this
family settles down, after my dad’s failing health has been inventoried and
cheering him up is done; and my sister comes back with us to my place; before
she leaves again.
The
youngest leaving the nest, farthest. It’s just the two of us flipping through
channels or folding the laundry or sitting down with tea.
I
stay up late, talking with her. She tells me stories, filling in the
patchwork of her life that’s being spent away from all of us. We talk. A couple of sisters; who still argue, have
disagreements; she fiercely loving my son, almost as fiercely I love her. We
could just well be soul twins
Perhaps,
we are.
After
I drop her off to the airport for that goodbye, which is harder than it looks.
What
I learn from the trip and the visit is to just be there, side by side. To hold
my arms open wide. To apologize without the friction of ego. To wash the
dishes, and then to wash more when they get added to the sink. To offer my hand
to mum and aunt and counsel to cousins and to move like water between the
moments. As always.
The
whole time I was with family and then alone with her, I could feel both the
déjà vu and the surrealism of the stories that we’re living.
The
stories that are part of me. The stories that I make a part of.
Copyright
© Neerja Yadav