THE HOUSE

As you walk past and peep in, you find a story in every room.
An ailing grandmother who talks only to the people she truly likes. In the next, her 98 yr old sister-in-law, who is busy keeping up with the news, of the world and the family.

In the study, a son who's here to meet her, all the way from Washington. He snores lazily after a heavy winter meal.

In the dining room, another son, who visits regularly. Who talks to her even if she doesn't listen or talk back. On the phone, his wife, either councelling her pregnant daughter or listening to the exploits of her talented son.

In the kitchen the scheming servants.

Across the corridor and into the other side of the house, another son, playing card games on his computer and smoking cigarretes, worrying in his head about his mother, his work and his health. But always smiling and always welcoming.

In the kitchen, in the bedroom, in her mother-in-laws room, with the dogs, on the phone, in a charity school, is his wife, always calm.

Under the stairs, a greedy daughter, eats her mother food. The mother barks once and then drinks some water instead.

Thundering down the stairs, the youngest, his hair spiked and geled, late for college, or a date. Music from a radio distracts you and you peep into yet another room. Its the eldest, getting ready for work after an hour long massage. earings? high-heels? do i really have to go to work today? In yet another room, her friend from Finland who's come to India to find herself.

From elsewhere, loud snores. Its a young friend from madras, on a mission to save his family business, exhausted from the pressure of it all.

A door bursts open. Its the middle one. He looks at me blankly and then frowns at the snoring door. Laptop in one hand and cellphone in the other, he looks for a quite corner of the house to settle down in and do whatever it is he does.

The room in the far corner of the house has been strangely silent. Push the door slightly and someone jumps. Its a fugitive boyfriend, hiding from the extended family!

From the bathroom, a servant appears. Her sister killed her own husband because he drank too much. From the laundry room, another maid. Her husband works as the driver and her sister-in-law works in the other side of the house, but they don't talk.

Downstairs, my parents get into the car after a brief stop over. They say goodbye to the man who brought up my father and has cooked for all of us for the past 60 years. He makes the best souffle's in the world.

The watchman waves. Julie the stray barks. Dika her daughter from across the road wags her tail.

I hope they don't sell the house.


10 bedrooms.
3 living rooms.
2 dining rooms.
2 studies.
2 kitchens.

6 servants.
2 dogs.

12 inhabitants and counting...