There have been calls to and fro. Father and mother have been fighting over my name. I can hear the full conversation because when mother feeds me, she uses the speaker phone.
Apparently, we will have a super dress like Superman...just that instead of an "S" we will have a "R" on our chest. Very unfashionable, my parent. The blue and red combo is so 19th century!
I wouldn’t have bothered listening if my mother hadn’t angrily banged the phone and said: “It was a mistake marrying a internet savvy man. When asked for name suggestions…how dare he take a print out of all pages from babynames.com and courier it across?”
Next time, my father called…they started the discussion again. My father suggested “Anamika” (my mother suspects that it was the first name in the babynames.com list).
When my mother confronted my father with what she thought of the name, my father suggested “Zulfi”.
Even I could see that this would have been the last name in the list.
After a lot of discussion, it has been decided that my name will be “Rhea”. I like the name…goes well with my surname “Rajan”.
My only problem with the name is that it has a Greek origin and means a singer. Why would you name somebody a singer when you have already stuffed the person with so much music in the womb itself. So much so, I now hate carnatic music. Gimme some head banging stuff and I am game any day.
PS: Overheard my parents conspiring about forming a Super Family, like the Supermans and Incredibles. They are going to name our family The ‘R’ Family and our super wear will have a huge “R” on our chest.
In the few days I have spent in this World, I have realized that family is important. Who else, will take care of you when you can’t even wipe your ass?
So, I spent most of my today figuring out my family tree. My father’s parents have been Capt M Ramaswamy, who happens to be a Army man and Selvi Ramaswamy, a home maker. My mother’s parents are KP Chandrashekaran Nair, a Engineer with the Kerala government and Shantha Chandran, again a home maker.
Check out my family tree for a better understanding:
My paternal grand parents are from Tamil Nadu and maternal grand parents are from Kerala. Wonder what language they would want me to speak at home. If there is too much pressure to learn English, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam...I will just show my parents the middle finger. I hope they understand sign language!
As you can see I have the blood of those that built the nation, and those that saved the nation.
My only grudge is I wasn’t born in a King’s family. Do they still have kingdoms here? When I was here in my last birth, they did have Kings & Queens. Or is it that, we are Kings but are living out in an exile and very soon my father would gather his army…attack his brother who had usurped the kingdom and get back his throne?
Way too many questions on my mind right now…catch you guys tom.
We reached Kedaram today. Came to know that Kedaram is the name of my maternal grand parents house.
I did ask my mother what it means, but she didn’t respond. Pretty snobbish, I would say.
Came to know that my mother and her elder sister Rema (I couldn’t see her in the house) were also born in the same hospital – St Martin De Porres Hospital. Apparently, I have an elder brother called Anupam…he is Rema’s son. Will he also share my house? I wish I get my own private time.
We passed the Girls Government Higher Secondary school on our way to the house and my mother lifted my head to the car window and told me: “Rhea, this is where your mother studied.”
Like I cared. Do I have to study? That’s what matters.
Forgot to tell you…when we reached Kedaram, we were welcomed by Raji aunty and her two daughters – Vidya and Divya. Heard they both are taking professional singing classes and are good singers. Wait till I start singing.
Oops! I spotted a violin (which was used by my mother) and a Veena (which was used by my mother’s sister Rema) in the house. I hope they don’t push me to carnatic music – have had enough of it when I was in my mother’s womb.
Everybody is busy today. Or at least they appear to be.
They are packing all the stuff and paying off the bills. I overhear my grand father and my mother comparing the costs of a delivery in Chennai and Kannur. Apparently, Chennai would have been very costly.
My grand father seems to be a good man, he suggested to my mother that if she felt so strongly about the costs…maybe she should donate the money she saved to an orphanage.
But remember…my mother is selfish…she again used me as an excuse. She said: “No, papa…with the baby and all we will need all the money we can have now. Maybe, later…we can look at that.”
A “Yeah, right!” escaped my lips but doubt if anybody heard it.
Why does my grand mother stay with us every night? Doesn’t she have a house of her own? We already find this place cramped.
Check out the sweaty me. Don't even have a deo on me...wonder what the visitors will be thinkng of me. Didn't somebody say, Kerala was God's own country? Besides, can somebody explain it to my parents that hoods are no longer fashionable.
Today, I came to know that I am Kerala. Some district called Kannur.
Kerala seems like a very hot place. Apparently, it is summers and summers are supposed to be hot. I know because I overheard my father and mother fighting…father was saying that if he were back in Yahoo office, he would be happy in an air conditioned space. That’s when mother got angry and started saying that he should have thought of the Kerala weather before asking her to marry him. I found my mother very logical in her approach.
While on the weather, let me tell you about my clothes. I have a boring wardrobe – all whites and all of them linen. No shoes…just socks. My parents definitely don’t have taste. Everything around this place is also white…the walls, the bed sheets, the fan, my clothes…I am bored.
“Give me some pink,” I shouted once, but nobody seemed to have heard it.
I have some bad news as well…my father is going back. He can’t stay with us any longer. I will miss my dad, though he didn’t do anything special for me…besides hanging around the room.
There was talk of ‘bringing home the bacon’..what in God’s name is a bacon?
