Asterix and Obelix take on Rome
Dec. 21st, 2002 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravenSo, after yesterday, where were we? Ah, yes... Dadu and my mother had gone to AIIMS. Dadu (my mother's uncle) is wonderful. He's rather old-fashioned, endlessly charming, and calls me "Lady Iona" because of my accent. After he retired a few years ago, he has settled into a peaceful, comfortable, Henry Blake type existence. He and my mother are a perfect combination. Deep in conversation on the way to AIIMS, they missed their turn and went to India Gate instead. Because of this, they were forty-five minutes late home to Chittaranjan Park and I almost missed the chance to go to the airport to pick up Sunny.
But we did go, and I had a wonderful experience. Pedar and his uncle pulled lots of strings, and wangled three passes into customs from outside. We managed to get as far as baggage reclaim to meet them. Sunny is tall now. Much taller. It's thirteen years since I saw him in real life, and although I felt I knew him through email, it's not quite the same thing. Anyway, I like him. He plays poker with me, has a killer sense of humour, and brought a bunch of CDs with him, including Nirvana's Nevermind and In Utero. I approved.
This morning... well, we didn't do very much. And then finally, my Chachaji (uncle) decided to take Sunny, Chiklu and me bookshopping to the Bookworm. We each have a book and two comics - mine are Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel and my beloved Asterix comics, at last. As well as that, we have Archie comics, and some Phantom comics, and the Life and Times of Che Guevara and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I know, I know, we all have sublime taste...
Lunch at McDonalds, where we were treated to such delights as the McAloo Tikki Burger With Cheese. The really surreal thing was the fact they were playing Savage Garden. Listening to Darren Hayes singing, "In Santa Monica, there are many things..." made me miss home intensely for a few moments.
When we got back, we just crashed for a while, reading in the sunlight. Chiklu ran off to buy a box of matches to use as poker chips, which we plan to make use of later - each match is worth Rs.2. We then decided to come up here early, because tonight we're going to the airport again - Rohan, my cousin and Chiklu's elder brother, is flying in from Aurangabad. Domestic flight, so less hassle, but still lots of traffic on the way to the airport.
So more on that tomorrow. I may not be here tomorrow, actually - because tomorrow is The Thing itself. The reason we are here. It is my grandfather's barsi, the first anniversary of his death, and to do the ritual puja as it should be done, his entire family should be here.
And so here we are. After tomorrow, things will be less busy. This morning the tickets for the Shatabdi Express were booked - we're going to Solan on Tuesday. I've never been there and I'm looking forward to it - it's a lush, green hill station, light years removed from the smog of central Delhi. And there are hills to climb.
And if only tomorrow were over...
But we did go, and I had a wonderful experience. Pedar and his uncle pulled lots of strings, and wangled three passes into customs from outside. We managed to get as far as baggage reclaim to meet them. Sunny is tall now. Much taller. It's thirteen years since I saw him in real life, and although I felt I knew him through email, it's not quite the same thing. Anyway, I like him. He plays poker with me, has a killer sense of humour, and brought a bunch of CDs with him, including Nirvana's Nevermind and In Utero. I approved.
This morning... well, we didn't do very much. And then finally, my Chachaji (uncle) decided to take Sunny, Chiklu and me bookshopping to the Bookworm. We each have a book and two comics - mine are Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel and my beloved Asterix comics, at last. As well as that, we have Archie comics, and some Phantom comics, and the Life and Times of Che Guevara and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I know, I know, we all have sublime taste...
Lunch at McDonalds, where we were treated to such delights as the McAloo Tikki Burger With Cheese. The really surreal thing was the fact they were playing Savage Garden. Listening to Darren Hayes singing, "In Santa Monica, there are many things..." made me miss home intensely for a few moments.
When we got back, we just crashed for a while, reading in the sunlight. Chiklu ran off to buy a box of matches to use as poker chips, which we plan to make use of later - each match is worth Rs.2. We then decided to come up here early, because tonight we're going to the airport again - Rohan, my cousin and Chiklu's elder brother, is flying in from Aurangabad. Domestic flight, so less hassle, but still lots of traffic on the way to the airport.
So more on that tomorrow. I may not be here tomorrow, actually - because tomorrow is The Thing itself. The reason we are here. It is my grandfather's barsi, the first anniversary of his death, and to do the ritual puja as it should be done, his entire family should be here.
And so here we are. After tomorrow, things will be less busy. This morning the tickets for the Shatabdi Express were booked - we're going to Solan on Tuesday. I've never been there and I'm looking forward to it - it's a lush, green hill station, light years removed from the smog of central Delhi. And there are hills to climb.
And if only tomorrow were over...