“Nuclear family” is the new way
of living; at least in the always-forward-on-copying-blindly-from-the-west
India. It, indeed, is a rare occasion when a whole family gathers and spends
the evening peacefully without grappling. It is a rare, isn’t it?
On the trailing end of Diwali
comes the auspicious day of Bhai-Duj; a
day, much like Raksha Bandhan, where a brother swears for the protection
of his sister/s and sister/s ripping him off of his bank account.
Ours being a big family, we had a
get-together, with all agreeing on a decided venue; performed all the
ceremonies and then followed our year old tradition: Partying!
The simplicity of the day being
the children, YES! The Gen-Z, of our family, ranging from 3 years old to 13
years old. All my nieces!
When, post the ceremony, we all,
mostly the siblings, gathered around the table, obviously, for the alcohol’s
and good old days’ sake. An altogether different party had started inside one
of the bedrooms: The Party of the Gen-Z!
My nieces, all from the different
parts of Mumbai, seldom meeting each other, gelled-in like they were the best
of friends – Chuddi-buddies; a few
recently being able to walk, talk and chill without continuous support/crying
for their parents; leaving their parents some respite.
When the party on our side opened
the bottles for the first round, the voices of the Team Gen-Z rose, after an exchange
of general greetings and gifts.
We taking down the first round;
they chattering about the vacation. We with no enthusiasm, waiting for the alcohol
to kick some enthusiasm within us; they were already at the pinnacle of the
enthusiasm. And voices, of course!
Second round, got us talking;
they already into different sets of team and with a ready plan, only waiting to
execute. We got to card games – money based gambling. They resorted to
power-based card games: Doraemon trading cards, Pokemon…
The rounds went on and so did the
clamoring inside the bedrooms. Their games kept changing and so did the level
of eclectic noises keep changing. They played from Horror games, to adventurous
games, to accessorizing dolls or setting up a kitchen set to chasing each other
madly … The last game they ended on was everyone’s childhood special – Hide &
Seek.
Where we were onto alcohol, to make us ‘siblings’
chit-chat, and like each other, at least for one evening, those young and fresh
minded, with less or no fights got into accepting each other the way they were
and in a way showing us to how to make friends or how to live a life.
No egos, No pride.
Well, in the end, a family that
drinks together dances together.
A last round for the evening was
yet to be played before the dinner was served. Both the groups got together and
danced on the Bollywood’s dancing-numbers. It was nothing but delightful to see
everyone heaving, jiggling, jumping with so much energy and seeing those
children dance is a sight for which anyone would give away a 1000days without a
second thought. Thus, ending the whole ceremony on a happy note.
Happy Diwali!
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