nothing about the mother-in-law

It was possible to stay away from the net for 15 days. I never even once wanted to sit anywhere close to the computer. Coming back, I wondered if I’d remember the system password but my fingers typed it out automatically. So, sometimes the brains are at the finger tips. When you make wrong decisions, trust your brains not to be where it is supposed to be but elsewhere, maybe the toes.

Dad has also come along to stay with us for a while. Mom is retiring soon and she didn’t want to take any extra leave during her last working days. S is all prim and proper with my dad, saying the right things at the right time.

Post retirement, dad has had very few opportunities to wear formal clothes. Most social occasions demand the traditional kurta –pajama or dhoti leaving no room for pant-shirt and suits. I heard he goes to collect his pension and then some transactions in the post office or the bank every month dressed very formally with the car, all sparkling. He came with me wearing a nice suit and a tie. I seldom saw him wearing a tie while he was in service. It was kind of cute.

He was offered the role of a technical consultant in his own department right after retirement, but he shied away as terorrists of the state would not allow him to work in peace. He is too old to adjust to a new environment outside the state and work. There is no concept of community service in my state, in India for that matter, and he says he wants to relax now and not do anything (which worries me).

I can empathise and understand him completely but I am quite helpless. For someone who has worked in just one organization (though in different places) in a society and time tossed in babudom, government cars, quarters, peons at your disposal, tea and snacks at the ring of a calling bell and then suddenly for all this to end.

He is a doting grandpa to the kids but not someone who can stand them for long. I am worried he will become the evergreen big brother of the locality who provides free booze.

I reported back to work from yesterday and dad prepared breakfast for me. When I got up, the milk was boiled and breakfast laid out. He said he has finished his morning walk and even dropped me to the pick-up point. As always, I told him I have to run and he came running to the pick-up point along with me.

While waiting for the cab, he noticed a heat boil on my face and said, it is because I am not washing my face properly. He suggested I apply ‘No Marks’ cream and told me that he also uses it sometimes as one of his friends had advised. At 65+, my dad still believes he can have clear skin. Hope springs eternal!