Expiry date.

A day before, my brother took out an ice cream box from the freezer & exclaimed," Why is this ice-cream just like that- only little has been eaten." My bhabhi immediately said,"I think,we better not eat it as it is months since we got it."My brother examined the expiry date & was relieved to note that it was past one month only since the expiry date.It was sitaphal ice cream( custard apple ice-cream)

I ,my brother & dad were for consuming the ice -cream.We have a middle class fixation of consuming eatables only after the expiry date is over.Moreover if the eatable is thrown away only because of the fact that it is beyond the date of consumption,then it is a drain on our pockets & since we cannot allow that ,we eat it up.It will affect our well being which will eventually lead to a hole nah many holes in our pockets as we visit doctors never bothers us at all.

My bhabhi & mom were totally against consuming the contents of the box but the majority nah the financially viable option prevailed & we all ate it up.My bhabhi also ate it as she opined that she was guilty for not using it up in time.Thankfully,nothing happened the next day -with our digestive systems that is.Just goes to show that we Indian middle class can digest anything be it food beyond the expiry date,corruption at every level,insults,et al.Really,we have a stupendous mental & phyiscal ability to endure anything & everything.

As we sat eating the ice cream,my brother bit on a seed of custard apple & he exclaimed,"This seed proves that this is sitaphal icecream- just in case you all were skeptical about the claims by the manufacturer" He opined,"We do not come with an expiry date."I quipped,"Of course not,God has stamped an expiry date on us also but we do not know about it."Moreover by some of our rash & negligent actions,we prepone the expiry date.But there are some wise people who are able to postpone the same by means of exercise,diet,meditation,yoga etal.

Bringing up dad.

Stuti means praising a person.We all being human, rarely shower praises on other fellow brethern or sisters.Like my father who often starts praising my mother's brothers ,-in fact her whole family, even after so many years of marriage.He believes that they have not sincerely provided for the less fortunate of her brothers & their families & hence are selfish.He will often call them up & tell them that the better ones should have acted in a particular way if they really meant to raise their standard of living.My mother is deeply hurt by all this stuti but then she has got so addicted to this facet of my father that she has given up .She takes it in her stride & continues to take care of her life partner.

My dad is a great equaliser in doing stuti -he praises my husband for his shortcomings as well.He will keep pestering me about my hubby by asking as to when will he settle down to a job wherein we all can stay together as a family etcetc? I am unlike my mother & do take umbrage but it unfortunately gets directed at my hubby & we end up in arguments.My father is also full of praise for bringing up my kid-he hates the idiot box being on all the time but my kid hears none of such advice.He also opines that maida meaning bread,biscuits et all should be given once in a while & so on & so forth.He is of the belief, that, I am not sincere in looking after my kid.I feel, it is high time ,he stopped interfering & let go of trying to control me .Now,that I have crossed forty,I feel I can look after myself & my dear ones.

But my dad disagrees-if I get cross & retort back,he sulks for some time but is back to his usual self in a matter of hours ! He complains that the dahi ,I set is sour ,the filter coffee is watery,the tea tastes bitter ,the veggies are all overmature & hence taste awful & so on.In short,he is telling me, that I am good at nothing.He feels, that I have got addicted to the net & am not paying any attention to household work.

He has told that he is staying with me so that he can be of help but his attitude does everything but help.He expects me to screen all phone calls for him.He wants breakfast,lunch & dinner at his timings.He expects me to attend to him as he is older by bypassing my kid.Moreover,he is too busy with his friends & acquantances to attend to me .But he still wants me to believe, that he is of great assistance.

It is said, that old age is like second chilhood- I completely agree with this.My dad is nearly seventy five & mind you,I find it easier to handle my nine year kid than him.

Token .

Yesterday,the redevloper called up to inform that the deal of a flat was signed up with someone else from whom he had got a token as a gesture of the finalisation of the same.The amount paid was anything but token-it must be surely more than a lakh considering that the flat is being sold for more than seventy five lakhs.

We had been negotiating with the builder for the said flat since the last three months but had opted out of giving any money as token or otherwise.We were in the process of seeking a loan from a bank & we were awaiting the bank clearance before making any payments.The bank took its own time which quickly turned from days into weeks & months before they raised some queries.We asked the builder to answer them.The bank at being pestered by the builder at one time, told him, that as he had no locus standi ,only we should talk with the bankers.This in effect, led to situations wherein we were shuttling between the two but, still, the bankers remained non-committal.The builder also was trying to produce one document after another when asked for, always questioning as to why the bankers needed it.He was of the opinion that we had chosen the wrong bank.

The bank was trying to scrutinise thousands of loan applications & maybe trying to find faults with all of them & so this was delaying the process.Moreover,the bank staff at some times was reporting sick -whether they were sick or had caught infection from Jet or Air India is a matter of guess.Actually,the attitude of the bank was making us sick but then one does not have much choice whilst seeking a loan.Maybe you have -that is another bank can be approached but then you have to start all over again.Then, you have to pay the processing fees, which is based on the loan you have applied for & this fee is non-refundable.On second thoughts,one begins to wonder who is serving whom after paying the fees.


Finally, one day,the builder called up to say that the bank staff had told him that they would visit the site of the building which housed the flat.This was news to us.We waited for the bank to inform us about their site visit.We realised that our locus standi was in doubt now as the bank omitted to even mention about the site visit.We were happy, that this showed, that our application was still under consideration.The visit just kept getting postponed & eventually did take place.As the builder had informed us,we also made our presence felt at the stated time.The bankers told us that now the loan cheque was just a matter of days !

But of course,the builder got a customer who paid a token the next day & so the deal with us was off.Some of my friends opined that we lost a good deal because of the delay by the bank & also because we refused to pay a token to seal the deal.

We had such a bad experience years earlier that we were extra cautious this time around.In that deal,we paid a token amounting to a lakh of rupees ( that was more than 15 years ago) & then we came to know that the deal was financially unreasonable.We backed off & demanded our token back but the seller who was a middle class individual like us stated that he will pay us when he gets the amount back from the bank after the maturity period.He informed us that he had put the token in a fixed deposit.We were on tenterhooks till we got back our money.This experience is still so fresh in our memory that we were sure, that if we paid the token ,the builder may treat us in a manner that we will regret for a lifetime.

I am sure,we lost a deal-not a good deal, as I believe, that whenever,one deals with a builder,only the builder profits.We all have been paying premium sums for flats since years.Don't you agree ?

Kids

Kids are a source of joy & envy as well. Parents lament that with kids around things are not the same anymore as one cannot keep late nights,can't leave the house at a moment's notice,etc etc & the list goes on & on.Well,all this, because, there is someone so tiny & or so dear that you have to take care of him ( includes her ) as that person trusts you completely.

Kids do let you have a peek at their world-their take on this world of ours & theirs once in a while.Kids are very observant-sometimes too much for the comfort of adults !Once ,we were dining at a restaurant wherein, kids go in for a toy which comes along with a snack.My hubby noticed a family eating a snack out of a package.He chided my daughter," See,they are having medu vada -why can't you eat medu vadas ? Why you have to eat all alien stuff like burger& fries ?" My kid quipped," Appa,that is chicken bhajiya not medu vadas & as I am a vegetarian,how can I eat that ? Will you allow ?" Her reply made us all laugh our worries away !

Once, we were travelling, on a road wherein barricades have been put up for a road broadening project & we were explaining to my daughter about the barricades.She said," Barricades are put up so that people can spit on them !" She pointed to the red betel leaf stain marks which were all too visble on the tin sheets.

My dad has a flat in a small suburb & was thinking of disposing it off. So some of our neighbors came visiting.My daughter asked her grandpa," Why all of them are coming home ?"My dad told her that he wanted to sell off that house.She added,"Yes,please sell & give the money to us so that we can buy a flat."My father said," But I will give to my son."His grandchild informed him,"You should divide equally between mama & amma.So you sell for a round figure like 40 lakhs,so that you can give 20 lakhs to both of them ."We all learnt a lesson in equality & it left us all amused.

So kids are a mirror to all of us as depicted in "Alice in Wonderland."Hence, let us inculcate good values with a dose of humor in our children.After all,they are the world of tomorrow.