Monday, September 17, 2012

Mother's misery, grandmother's joy


It was my decision to go off Sri Lanka leaving our little one with her Ammamma (my mum).  I still don’t know what made me take this decision. As it turned out I was almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown staying away from Smera for 6 days.

My mum is almost fanatical about her granddaughter – who also happens to be the first one in my family. It is the first time she is experiencing the joy of being a grandmum and she absolutely loves it.  And this is just reason why I wanted to leave Smera with her, so they could spend uninterrupted 6 days of pure happiness.



I planned out everything – flights, hotels, rent-a-car, and places to visit except for one thing – my misery. A complete oversight, I just didn’t realise how much I would miss her, so much that I almost annoyed my mother with my constant phone calls. Smera has been deeply wired into my system and even a few hours of separation makes me go crazy.

So first task upon arrival was to get a mobile connection and make that first call to check on my munchkin. Just as expected the child was cheerful, not at all stressed about her missing mother. Should this make me happy or sad I wondered? I was undoubtedly pleased to see how emotionally independent the little one is.

Mum and Smera spent the next couple of days in Trivandrum and then went off to Kumarakon to savor their remaining days together. The duo went fishing, boating, swimming and gorging on scrumptious Karimeen Polichattu among other things.

While they were having a good time, I was constantly on the phone eager to know what is going on. 100 minute free talk time from Mobitel seemed like a good deal when we bought it from the Colombo airport, but by the next morning it had all but turned to a negative balance.

I could sense that my mom was getting tired of taking my calls. It was after that I retorted resorted to a tactic that can only be described as beyond silly – I coaxed my husband to call mom and put on the speaker phone hoping to catch Smera’s voice in the background. Call me a desperate mummy.

Amid the self-inflicted psychological torture, I managed to do a bit of sightseeing, a lot of tea gardens and a great deal of shopping.  We had to buy another bag to fit it all in even after expanding the big suitcase that we carried on our way in. I really went berserk shopping clothes for our toddler. 

The last day of the trip had to be the longest – airport delays, weather, even the traffic police seemed to be scheming against me – how else would you explain a 2 hour delay to a normal 45 minute drive.

It was about Smera’s sleep time when we reached home. Taking her in my arms from my mom, I realised that that had to be one of the most priceless moments for me in a long-long time.



Photo credit: 123rf.com 



30 comments:

  1. Can fully understand what you must have gone through leaving the young Smera behind! It is a very difficult decision!

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    1. Yes Rahul ... we would kids are dependent on us while not realising how dependent we too are on them ... Smera though had a fabulous time :D

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  2. Awwwww.....that was cute .....only a mom can understand this feeling

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  3. Been there done that! You plan a getaway in the minutest details, hoping to get some respite from all that running after your toddler. But in reality the whole vacation is spent thinking, missing the munchkin and cursing yourself. I totally relate to how bad a mom feels when her little one is totally independent of her. Has happened quite often to me. :) But I am glad you took the time off. It is very important to have some couple time.

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    1. Yeah swapna di - but mum and Smera had a wonderful time and that joy and relation is priceless :)

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  4. Definitely a child need grand maa when he/she growing...

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    1. Ofcourse, my didnt't get to experience that much in my life but whatever little we got is etched in my memory forever.

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  5. nice post.. i can completely understand as a mom :) how old is Smera now?

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  6. Hey, trust the mother who fetched you into this world!

    ps Line 15: 'resort'.

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  7. You know , my dad always had this thing of leaving my sis with grandparents or relatives , he was fine leaving me, I guess he loved my sis more then me :) ..

    and I can relate to this post because once my parends had gone somewhere, had to leave me and my sis with my grandparents, and suddenly in middle of night found , parents had driven all the way back , because Dad would not stay away leaving his precious daughter :)

    reminded me of the incident

    Bikram's

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    1. Hello Bikram - aww so cute .. father's are usually more attached to the daughters while I am sure you must have been your mum boy !!

      At my place Smera I think loves her father more than me :(

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  8. You know what, when I read your earlier post on this one, I was thinking 'Leaving the kid behind and going on a trip?...So many seem to do that, I dont think I can. I'd go crazy' and looks like you fall into the same boat ha ha....:)

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    1. True Jayashree, honestly I wanted amma and Smera to spend some time alone .. That's something she had been wishing for ... atleast they had fun even though I was miserable ..

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  9. its fun to be at ure grandparents place, I always used to look forward for it during summer vacations as a kid

    www.styledestino.com

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    1. Yes true SJ .. Smera would rather with her Gmom than me :) while i didn't get to cherish it that much :(

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  10. Hi Sangeeta, i read your post and can relate to it very closely since we have a 6 month old at home. Very recently my wife and self went to watch ' Barfi ' with my son at home and my cousin taking care of him. Trust you me my wife could not watch the movie for a single moment, at peace. Though I was enjoying the show but my mind was always drifting towards my kid . The moment we reached back home we cuddled him for good half an hour. Interestingly my son was least bothered of our absence and was enjoying songs on TV :):)

    Happy Parenting and Happy Blogging !!

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    1. Sorry for such a delayed response .. You are absolutely right .. kids do much better than us parents ... :)

      Thank you for stopping by Vivek !!

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  11. awww...what a beautiful post!Been there...so, it was easy to relate. Lovely :)

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  12. This is such an awww-inducing post! <3
    Loved it, and simply loved how you can not stay away from your little princess even for a few hours, let alone days. Mother's love :)

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    1. Mahima - Motherhood is strange - I think I am bit too strict with Smera but if she is not around I go nuts missing !! The worst if she cries before I have to leave for somewhere I just cannot concentrate.. When they get hurt .... Its pains us more ...

      Thank you so much for leaving this lovely comment !!!

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