My wife is visiting India these days. Its been a week since she left and its been seven long days. The condition of our house can be best described as...... chaotic! The race against time begins every morning, as soon as I wake up.
By the time I get downstairs, I'm already behind by a few minutes.
"Hey dad, where are my socks?" my son calls out.
"Your socks? look in the...the... sock closet. " That's the best I could do, between juggling cream cheese and bagels for breakfast. Even to me, my answer sounded lame.
"What sock closet?" he asks back. I pretend not to hear.
When he's ready to leave, I notice that he is wearing socks.
"Hey Simar, so you found your socks," I smiled.
"Yup. I called mom."
"You called mom? You called India to find your socks?"
"Yeah, dad. Can't go to school without socks. No shirt, no socks -- no education!" He smiled and rushed out of the house to catch the school bus.
Just then my daughter hurries down from her room, getting ready to drive to UVA, where she's a second year.
"G'morning, dad. What's the hindi word for appreciate?" (She studies hindi as a second language at college.)
I did some quick thinking, in between getting the dog out, throwing bread into the toaster, ignoring the persistent phone ringing.........
"I don't know, Neety."
"But didn't you study hindi in India?"
"I did, but I wasn't very good at it."
"Mom would know. So when is she coming back?"
"In a week." A deep sigh escapes me.
"You sure you can hang on, dad?" I can sense that she's a little worried.
"Oh yeah. I'm fine." God, I'm the one supposed to be taking care of her!
This is a micro chasm of life in my day when Kamna is not around. Things go a little crazy, a little unstuck around the house. I've realized that she's the glue that holds our lives together, makes things go smoothly without the hiccups. And she does this, day-in and day-out........ and she works......and she cooks....... and provides counsel to so many people we know..... and the household chores...... the list can go on and on.
The other aspect I miss is her company, the daily chit-chat about "stuff", the spontaneous laughter, the impulsive run to the movies or restaurants..... I guess she really does "complete me". (Excuse me, Tom Cruise!)
And I'm sure this story is repeated in all households, all over.
So hats off to ladies everywhere......
