Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Visit from our folks

My parents visited last weekend and since both of them work, their longest stay at our place would be like 4-5 days. Last weekend it was Easter and my parents came over to celebrate Easter with us.

A week before their arrival

  • Plan what to do when they are in town
  • Plan out the whole menu for their visit
  • Go grocery shopping, so I have all the things needed for the above menu

Day before the arrival

  • Cleaning - By cleaning I do not mean the usual when guest comes to house cleaning, but major cleaning as they are parents and are entitled to every room, every closet, every shelf. They are also allowed to make statements like "There is so much dust here."
  • Prep for cooking the next day

Day of arrival

  • Cook, cook and cook some more
  • Final cleaning touch ups

Day 1 of parent's trip

  • Parents very impressed about all the food I made
  • I told mom that she was on vacation and she needn't do anything around the house
  • Mom tries to help me with chores and asks me where every dish is

Day 2 of parent's trip (and every day from then)

  • I wake up and go to kitchen, mom offers me coffee
  • Then she has already made breakfast and planned out what is for lunch and starts prepping
  • She has figured out where all dishes are

Day of departure

  • Mom Cooks all day so that I have food when she leaves.
  • Parents enquire when Shekar and I are going to visit them again.
  • Give them couple of stuff to take it with them like 2 of my sarees that need saree falls stitched
  • Talk more and say that your this visit was short make sure next time you come for more than 4 days

Day after their departure

  • Me calling them at their place, "Mom I can not find my spatula, do you know where you kept it."
  • Me calling again, "There is a cup in the fridge with white stuff what is it". Mom replies "Its Thenga pal (coconut milk), that came extra. Use it when you make apam"

Week after their departure

  • Me to Shekar - "I need to start cooking now, alle"

28 comments:

silverine said...

LOL Well written gal. Amazing post.

Reminds me of the days when my mom would go to Kerala. We would make great plans to have fun, order out, and just take it easy. When she is due to return suddenly we would all go into a fenzy, cleaning up the house as she is a cleanliness freak. We would also be fed up of ordering out and when she is back realise how much we missed her. Moms are the greatest arent they? You are lucky she is with you in States :)

Flyaway Mind said...

good one there...
"mom Cooks all day so that I have food when she leaves" ya..mom is the best

once my mom came to my hostel to stay with me for a few days.. she told,she enjoyed it a lot since she didnt have to cook 'n everything just came infront of her..our poor moms!! how they work on the never ending chores...

Sujith said...

i guess this itinerary wud come useful for their next visits :-)

Kusum Rohra said...

Me to Shekar - "I need to start cooking now, alle"

ROTFL

All the best to shekar :) really well written :)

Shilpa said...

Yes you need to start cooking :-P

or ask ur parents to move closer :-)

Sarah said...

tht part abt cleaning the house..mom went to Kerala for 3 weeks..the night before she came back,my sisters and I cleaned the whole house, threw the alco bottles and can opener etc out..even placed the mattress on the terrace to sun it..so she would have a fluffy bed..She came early morning, and the first thing I heard her say "ethenna ee switchelokke ennamayam"..

AJ ! Serendipity !!! said...

nothing like the whole family being together...

Thanu said...

$silverine
Enjoy it while it lasts. And moms are the best.

$flyaway mind
Welcome here, please don't fly away. Moms can never stay idle. Question is when we become moms are we expected to do the same?

$Alexis Leon
Thank you.
I have been ozhapufying this whole week. Just warming up food, making apam and all.

$Jithu
Every visit is unique.

$Kusum Rohra
Thank you Kusum.

$Shilpa
I alwaz ask themt ot move here, but not possible.

$Immigrant in Canada
So hard to impress parents alle, esp mom. Dad is easy, he sees his little girl standing in kitchen, and he is already impressed.

$Ajay
Very true, nothing like having loved ones around.

Archana said...

So true :-). When my family visited me from India last year, I cooked for exactly one meal time (the food they ate as soon as they landed). From that point on, mom took over and I hardly went near the stove again till they left.

So nice that your parents can visit you so frequently - lucky gal :-)!

Geo said...

wow... :_))

why dont u start learning the art of cooking :_))

sainathkm said...

Geo, i support you. Why don’t these girls learn cooking before the marriage itself :)

Thanu said...

$archana
Yeah it is nice that they can visit me and I can visit them quiet often.

$geo
I do know the art of cooking.

$sainathkm
Now that is not a nice thing to say. What makes u think I do not know to cook. I mite not be a greatest cook in the world, but I do cook. How many guys know how to cook before they get married? Y is it expected that girls learn how to cook. What u said is a very MCP kind of thing to say.

Rays Of Sun said...

And get firing for asking that jackfruit halwa:D:D:D
Cute post re..I am imagining all this like it happened in front of my eyes..Thanu screaming at top of her voice=))

CyberRowdy(Q8TechDrive) said...

nice blog...

Deeps said...

Hehehehe good one. My parents haven't visited me here since I came to US, but I'm sure the story will be something similar ;-).

Meanwhile me going to India in May, so maybe I'll try some role reversal ;-).

Thanu said...

$ROS
Getting firing was long time back over the phone. I gave them the Halwa and they were all happy.

$q8techdrive
Thank you. Welcome here and hope to see you around

$deeps
When u go to India, u'll be so pampered there. Have a great trip and take lots of picts with ur new camera.

Just Jane said...

Hi Thanu, loved this post. You express your thoughts in such a simple manner, it strikes a chord in the reader. Have just officially joined the blogging world myself. Have been enjoying your blog for a couple of weeks now. Thanks and keep it coming :-)

quills said...

I really loved this post. I can identify with it completely. The last time my parents visited, I went through the same process. :)

Btw, Thanu dear, hope you like tags, coz you have been tagged. :)

Sayesha said...

Awesome! :)

Just Jane said...

Thanu, thanks so much for stopping by my page to leave a comment. My very first one too :-)

Eclectic Blogger said...

haha.. u wud have had a nice break..

Anil.kumar03@gmail.com said...

thanu,

you have been tagged.

ATG

Geo said...

Thanu, please take a break from ur cooking experiments... consider urself tagged...pls check my latest post for details...

Ginkgo said...

they visited u in the US for 1 week?
Did I get it right?

Jiby said...

haha...had a nice laugh!

Thanu said...

$The Chosen One
Thank you. Hope u are having fun blogging.

$quills
Thanks, will comply soon tot he tag.

$Sayesha
Thanks.

$The Chosen One
I know me first..

$Eclectic Blogger
Yeah, it was a great break.

$Anil The Great
Will adhere soon.

$Geo
Looks like tag season will comply soon.

$Ginkgo
They live in US, hence htey visited me for a week.

$Jiby
Thanks Jiby.

Anonymous said...

:)

Me to Thanu - "U need to start blogging again, alle" :P


Hmmm rrandu tag waiting for you on rumbling!!

Mind Curry said...

atleast you cleaned up the day before the visit and cooked on the day of visit..commendable!
that was a fun post alright! so realistic..