For the Diwali break, a cousin of mine had come over along with his family. The 4 years old son wanted to go out and play .his mother wanted him to practice a page of copywriting first . A deal was made. He could go out to play only after writing one whole page of capital A.  Just as she turned her back, the child shouted in a triumphant voice, "ho gaya". With an incredulous look, she turned back and peered into the note book and guess what did she see? One oversized capital "A" filling up the whole page!

The reaction? Well for a second I thought bhabhi's eyes were going to fall out from their sockets. Next I heard a sound of a slap and the child's cry simultaneously .

The child's cry caught his grandmother's attention. She was immediately  all support for her grandson (who had stopped crying just as suddenly as he had started.) The women started arguing over the rights and wrongs of doing homework when the whole family was in the mood for celebration. The kid, by then, had quietly started slipping out of the room. As his eyes met mine he gave me a most innocent & pleading smile. And, absolutely charmed, I stood near the door,blocking his mother's view, as he slinked away unseen! Soon he was playing with other kids leaving the elders to argue about the importance of studies! When bhabhi asked me "kahan gaya", I put on an innocent look (copied & pasted from him) and said, "I don't know."

His sister, who has  just learnt walking  is one-up on him .she does just whatever she wants  and then gives a most divine smile, almost daring people to scold her I  haven't seen anyone (other than her mother) taking up the challenge as yet. Her hobby No.1 is throwing things out of the window & shouting gleefully. So, as long as she was there the whole family was in Ba(b)y Watch mode!!! Meal times are terror for her mom but I consoled bhabhi saying that someone told me he cycled around while eating isn't she better than that kid!

During a lazy afternoon she tugged at my dress & pointed to the wall what do I see? A large part of the cream colored wall , just below the window, was covered in pink, brown & peach ex-pressions from the little painter…and three lipsticks of mine lying in a mess on the floor. As I turned to her with a very honest intention of scolding her, she met my eyes with a jubilant look and a proud smile which said. "Am I not the best?" Tell me; is it possible to scold a child then? (I actually ended up taking a photograph of the "mural" on my wall) This young lady sure knows how to use the power of the smile!!!

A crashing sound drove away the last vestige of sleep from my eyes.  I soon realized the source of that sound it was a sleepy me walking straight into a flower pot kept in the   parlor of our house. And hey, it was no ordinary flower pot. It was the one  that mummy spent at least  1 hour in choosing .after mulling over height ,breadth, length, shape  etc. etc. etc.. It was my mother's pride of possession that lay in bits and pieces at my feet.

The sound brought dad into the room.  His first words were, "did your mom see this". Completely shaken, I just shook my head. He told me to get out and keep quiet & that he would handle everything.

 Mummy was entering the room even as I scuttled out Her er hmm .I do not know of any English word which can describe the sound that came out of her throat screech?..scream? (whatever!) was followed by a lecture to dad on how old age is catching up with him. He had told her that it was he who had accidentally broken the pot.

Feeling guilty, I went back to confess!!! As I was entering the room, I heard, , my dad saying that he will take her to that same handicraft shop to buy another one and that made her fly off the handle once more. She reminded him of something else he had broken two years ago and was yet to be replaced!!! Dad was completely at a loss .even with his best efforts he couldn't recollect what he had broken two years ago.

At this juncture mom saw me she said, in an 'elaborately'  calm tone, "welcome Ms. Root of the problem what do you and your dad think?  That I am stupid? Blind? Or both?" Then turning to dad, she continued, "is this what you teach the kids .to tell lies" My lil brother, all of 18 wanted to know who the kid was well, I can not, for the life of me, describe the look he got from mom .(I felt like giggling).

As she was going out of the room, she said, without looking back even once, to my elder brother (who had reached out for the nth helping of kaju barfi), " aur mithaiyan mat khao bimaar padh jaoge." As dad, brothers and I smiled sheepishly at each other; I wondered how many eyes do mothers have .

Soon, she was back with savlon, cotton wool and Band Aid to tend to the very minor cut on my toes. Following her was our cook with plates full of goodies for all of us. In a mock serious tone she told us, especially my brothers, "don't eat so much that you do not have any space left for the main meal."

As I sit down write this piece, I am still trying to get my thoughts in order. I am a HRD professional working in a very well known company.

What triggered off this feeling was a recent crisis in the company.  It happened in a department I was handling but my department head asked me to take another guy of my dept along to talk the workers. He explained that they may lose their temper & the situation may become too much for a 'woman' to handle. I went & did my job with my 'prop' beside me (although in retrospect, I must admit, the only crime I can accuse him of was obeying the boss's order).

Fuming I came back home & poured my heart out to my mom. Guess her reaction?  She supported my boss's decision!!! Her logic (she is a Prof. of psychology) that  an angry mob cannot be trusted to act with restraint ' my boss was only trying to ensure my safety( this made me laugh as she hadn't seen the structure of the guy who accompanied  me , but of course he is an excellent speaker). My dad commented that the 'exuberance' of youth needs the temperance of maturity & that my boss had gone through all these phases before reaching where he is today. (I made a face at him.) My younger bro said 'wow! I See this as boss setting you up for a date,& that too in office hours'. We all laughed together (although i did playfully punch his face).

Thank God for our families. Within a few hours of feeling dejected I was laughing again & seeing the positive & funnier side of things. Their presence had released me from any unhappiness I felt. I too was seeing my interpretation of the situation as hasty  … I mean we often feel if boss doesn’t allow me to have my way, he’s  throwing his weight around. What mattered most at that moment was that people who loved me , inspite of all my flaws,were around me & there was  steaming hot coffee & homemade pakoras  in front of me & all of us talking at the same time b’coz we all wanted to communicate with each other.And yes , I was lecturing mom on high calories, even as i ate the maximum nos. of the pakoras.

I feel very sorry for people who do not have such families to fall back on. They carry their hurt, their pain & their desire for revenge within then until their own souls get bruised & they become incapable of spreading joy.

During my On-The-Job training at a reputed MNC I remember a case which was a hot topic there. A much married man had an affair with a junior lady officer, who though highly qualified was very insecure. After sometime the senior officer changed job & left. The lady blamed another man who was her boyfriend's rival in the company hierarchy for her guy moving on. She kept creating trouble for the 2^nd guy every chance she got. Actually this guy had nothing to do with the 1^st guys exit. He left because he got a hefty jump in salary & most important his 1^st child was born (his wife was pregnant at this time) after years of marriage & he wanted to restart life with a clean slate. (He too valued his family)

I wonder now whether this lady has stopped hating & hurting (or does she still hate the 2nd guy for no fault of his?). I had completed my OJT when the crisis was still on— but that's one of the facets of HRD jobs u get to know everything about the employees without them being aware of it.the HRD dept there knew exactly when & where & how they met-right down to the hours & mins & even had transcipts of the chats they had on their office provided laptops. i learnt THE lesson of my life —never to use office comps for personal business.

Anyways, this post is about how precious families are to our happiness.  Please do not forget to thank the Lord for your families'the love that we get from them overrides every negative thing we face in life thus making life more pleasant.