Let's talk about it

It's Republic Day 2010, Indian style and my FB is awash with jingoistic statuses that run the gamut from

"For those who envy and eye my country be informed do not misunderstand our patience to be our weakness as if it erupts our lava would engulf you on a whole leaving no room for sympathy"
to
"India rocks....a country where " Ali's are part of every "Diw-Ali" and Ram are part of each " Ram-zan", which is not so much chauvinistic as it is an assault on my syntactic taste.

My thoughts on Republic day are while I love being Indian, I don't think I'd love being (on a permanent basis) in India.

Other epiphanies I have had:

• It shall be 8 years tomorrow since the boy & I first went a dating. Which means we have been having sex for 7.5 years. That makes me pause. And makes me ease up on us on the days when our love making is not all that it should be. Over the years, I have become less belligerent on the off-times when I do not climax the way I love to. I am also learning to be more giving and not take as much. Thank you boy for hanging in there with me.


• My in-laws (the mother and brother part of them) got their GC & are arriving on the 13th for a visit. They shall be with us for 3 weeks or so, then off to the boy's grandmom's place, the boy's sister's place and sundry other relatives' place. And then back with us. The boy & I decided to have the brother (who will be going to school here) stay with us for a year till he gets his footing in the country.

Initially, I resented the interruption this would create in my life. But now I have made my peace with it. The boy's mother seems extremely non-intrusive and quiet and it helps enormously that she and I speak only the bare minimum of each other's language. Judging by the exquisitely detailed salwars she sent me, I think she has a fine taste and very generous heart. A lot of smiles and a lot of gestures and I hope we shall be good to go.
My mom is extremely worried that I will besmirch her name by being myself (at least the bratty version of myself I am at home) with the in-laws. But I think I have this under control. The boy & I are getting the house ready, preparing a menu so we shall not be panic driven and I have the support system of boy, M.L. and A.D and my sibs to moan to when needed.

Note: My friends and I have been genuinely befuddled when people go into raptures upon in-laws visiting. All of us have very innocuous in-laws & yet the idea of people other than the spouse living with us gives us claustrophobia. I guess it's because an in-law is essentially a very unnaturally forced relationship. Yes, your natural born family is also a group thrust on you by genetics. But at least with them you have a shared history, and with whom you can yell and scream and generally looked bored if you want to. It's the freedom to be the grumpy you, if you wish to, that I love about family. With in-laws, you have people who are allowed to cut in front of others, skip the getting to know phase and be immediately 'related'.
Maybe, this is just the 'meeting them for the first time' jitters. Oh well, here's hoping the visit goes off drama-free.

• We have been house hunting, very slowly & are on house no.12 now. We have learnt much & are thankful for our Realtor, who has been most insightfully brilliant. I am also hugely indebted to the process because for once, the boy has things he wants. Most often, our life is about what I want. Because the boy is un-beholden to desires and wants (yes v.much like Buddha), that he goes along & enjoys whatever it is I plan [except for his pool, which is sacrosanct]. We are enjoying the process so much, that I fear we may never make our mind. I suppose it is a far, far better thing to dream and plan where you might live than to have to live in an actual place, where mortgage must be paid.

That's all :)