Packing it all in.....

We are going on vacation to Kerala & Bangalore for a whole month. It’s been 2 years now since our last trip home. If you think my next sentence is going to be “How time flies”, u r totally off the track. These 2 years have really dragged. It seems like ages……..just so long. I yearn to see my parents, I’m aching to hold my sisters baby in my arms, I’m longing for the company of my friends, I’m craving to eat the gulab jamuns from Bhagatrams on comm. street…...…I can go on.

My kids are torn between wanting to go & not go. They want to go coz they want 2 c their grandparents & cousins. But they also don’t want 2 go because they’ll be missing the sports day at school & the fun-filled Christmas Party. The fact that they are missing 2 weeks of class doesnt carry that much quotient.

We’ve been shopping like crazy. My husband loves to make lists……sorry, he loves to make me make lists:-/, & likes to shop according to them. I don’t really believe in lists but I know it makes good sense, so I make one & we set out with it, with good intentions. We’ve now made 6 trips so far with this list to various shopping malls, departmental stores & hypermarkets. Each time we’ve come back with bags of stuff but we still haven’t bought everything in the list.

Getting to the heart of the matter….. When it comes to shopping I’m what u call a ….... husbands nightmare. Not that I shop extravagantly but I insist on buying every relative, friend, and neighbour a little something. And to top it, I also take a lot of time choosing the gifts. Many a time after choosing an item (which would have taken half an hour), I’ll come across something else 2 aisles later & I waste half an hour on which is better, finally decide to pick it up & then waste some more time trying to keep the previously picked item back in the correct shelf.
I now remember how my friends used to hate to go shopping with me.

My husband is a patient person. But after 3 hrs of picking and choosing he’ll have that familiar long-suffering look on his face. The kids will be like climbing the walls & on him by then. I actually like to shop alone but how do I tell him that:-P……... It’s just not him alone, it’s with everybody. At work, once boss leaves I finish all my work in an organized manner. Even while cooking if anybody is there in the kitchen with me then I am not even sure how much salt to add in a curry. I do my work best when left alone.

At work, 2 of us are leaving at the same time. I’m leaving for vacation & the other person is quitting coz she got a better job. So for past 1 week we had been trying to recruit somebody. I put an advertisement as ‘temporary vacancy for an admin staff’. No major qualifications or anything but should have good communication & computer skills. I got around 60-80 calls & double number of emails. 80% of the response was from phillipinoes but we wanted an Indian. After 2 rounds of interviews, we finally short-listed 5 candidates. Then I called them one by one. The 1st person got a better offer in the span of 2 days & declined the offer. The 2nd person.......I forgot why she cdnt accept the offer, the 3rd revealed she was on visit visa (employing people on visit-visa is an offence, the company will get fined 50,000dhs or more), the 4th did not pick up the call & so the 5th person got lucky & landed the job. So 1 problem less.

Now I have to complete all pending works & most importantly, have to delete all the Junk I have accumulated in the computer before I leave :-P……forwards received, powerpoint presentations on useless topics, photographs of friends, relatives, …..ohhh don’t ask, I tend to accumulate all kinds of stuff on my desk, in my computer, everywhere except my kitchen which I keep free of clutter.

And the packing……….i’m the worst at it. Luckily hubby dear saves the day.........as always. He can pack at the rate of 1 suitcase per hour whereas I’ll take 3 days & still not finish one. The kids from the sidelines will keep adding whatever they think they just can’t do without. As soon as they turn their back, we take them out but as soon as we turn our backs, the same item is back in the suitcase again. Just thinking about packing is making me tired.

But all the trouble & travails of travel is nothing compared to seeing my loved ones. My parents, sister & friends are waiting for me just as eagerly. Every time my ear tingles (which is quite regularly nowadays) I know they are talking about me. One month is so little a time to catch up with everything. I guess, I’ll just have to savour each moment with them and stretch it ………within the parameters of time.

I’m counting the hours already…….