'Tis The Season
It's good times, Son. The NRIs will land up here like the migratory birds and you will have a full supply of sweet, fresh blood. It will be easy to spot them with their weird, uncoordinated sense of dressing and their 'American-Tanglish' accents!" |
You know it’s That Time of the Year again when you start getting hyper over how dusty dust has become in the last one year; over how mosquitoes seem to be breeding whole nations in a day; or find yourself wishing potholes and garbage would stop co-conspiring to let us down.
You switch smoothly to mineral-water-buying mode, and start hoarding as many bug repellants and hand sanitisers as you can lay your....er... hands on.
Then, slowly, you notice a slight but distinct increase in last year’s hem lines and choli styles flitting about the cityscape, and realise ...
Yep – they’re baaaack... The NRIs...
Soon, they’re everywhere... a few are wearing their mosquito bites even redder this season, and you can’t help feeling sorry... especially for the younger ones.
It’s wonderful to have them over, no question.
Even that constant undercurrent of worrying – praying – viruses play good sports and refrain from ruining holidays; that you’ve remembered all the various food allergies; hoping family loose cannons don’t choose to act up on the night of the big dinner... is worth it.
Except – in all this pursuit of perfection, you could miss what matters.
It all goes by so quickly... and they’re gone, so soon, along with all the home-food packets.
Until next year, then.
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