Convincing Mother India!

It was my regular ride to office in an uber cab chatting with my mother over phone, that I mentioned why don’t we plan a trip to Europe! I thought my mum would jump out of excitement knowing her love for Travel, was it the old age or the expense she seemed remotely interested. Nevertheless, I kept my persuasion hat on.

When S & I were 10 and 11 years respectively, The Steel Melting Shop a department in Rourkela Steel plant was undergoing modernization by a German technology. During this time my father along with his colleagues had an opportunity to go to Germany, live there for few months and train under the organization helping the Indian Government to upgrade its machinery. I remember S & I being super stoked about it- drawing up a list of things we would want, the necessities he should be carrying with him, and understanding currency exchange for the first time, helping my mother pack while my father would hover around her patting her head now & then- back then we would scream at him thinking he is troubling mum.. Little did we understand the silent gestures of Love!

Anyways, my father was back home after 4 months with bag full of goodies, anecdotes and pictures that told so many stories of the land far far away. S & I wouldn’t leave his side for a moment, we were determined to make up for all the lost time and all we wanted to hear was the stories he had to say about his travel. My mum would be enthralled by all the stories as well; the nomad in her eagerly scooping up all excitement around! After a days’ conversation with my father I had it all in my heart; his love for the magnificent Eiffel Tower in Paris, the beautiful landscape & the snowcapped mountains in the Switzerland, the countryside of Germany and the various technologies the Europeans have to make the citizens life easier. Being in the mid 90’s India was yet to see a metro rail, an ATM machine, Super-fast trains with automated doors and what not and As kid of 11 years old, I knew it was fantasy world to be in!

Back in the days, a middle class family in India would barely have passports forget about traveling on leisure to any place abroad. So, when my father travelled to Holland for another stint, we insisted that mum travels with him but due to unavailability of passport and documents she couldn’t. I knew my mum had really wanted to travel and see the European world, nonetheless like any other mother in India she made peace with her destiny and announced that “it wasn’t meant to be”. I wouldn’t say I made a pact that day that I would ensure my mother travels to all the European countries she has been hearing stories of, but deep inside I just wanted to do that for my mother one day.

That was February 1998, and the conversation with my mother in the Uber cab was in the month of May, 2015. If you have ever met an Indian mother you would know how she can, in no time, weave a list of responsibility that she has at home and no one to take care of if she goes on a 20 day holiday- in few words who is going to feed her husband and the fish in the tiny pond, water the plants in her garden! And all of this worrying after the Steel plant has housed a live in maid, garden & a cook within our property! I was not taking a ‘No’ for an answer, So I got S & my father on a conference call- 20 mins later my mum & I were ready for our 20 days trip to Europe! Woohoo!