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Monday, October 31, 2011

Chp 373. Family bonding weekend

Sup, folks. Great Monday aye? (unless of couse you’re a Chelsea fan). Well, today’s the last day of October, which usually means playing “November Rain” from tomorrow onwards, but this time, I’m gonna play a song dedicated to October.


[The Rasmus feat. Anette Olzon – October & April]

Yeah it’s not a new song, but I still love it. This song says a lot about me and my relationship, if you know what I mean. Plus, this song was performed by The Rasmus (of “In the Shadows” fame) and Anette Olzon, the Nightwish vocalist who replaced Tarja. Perfect match for each other, if I may say so.

 xxxxxx

Now coming to this post, I invited my “little” niece over to my place for the weekend. She’s my cousin’s daughter, and she had just joined an MA course here in Mumbai two months ago. The last time I saw her was a few years ago at a family dinner at my place in Mizoram when I graduated from Engineering college. Dad invited our entire relatives for a grand feast because he was proud as hell to have a B.E. son.

This was her then, that night when we celebrated my B.E. graduation at my house. The one on the extreme right, sitting and smiling shyly.



I picked her up from Bandra last Friday. I was still expecting her to be the small bespectacled pony-tailed little girl, but wonders of wonders, NOOOO. I guess she underwent some strange mysterious paranormal phenomenon called “growing up” because this is her now:



And from the previous other pic above, the other two girls in the pic are nieces of mine too, the daughters of another cousin. You see the one in the middle? You see the innocence in her eyes? Well, apparently this is what she is today:



The third niece in the pic had also transformed into this now:



Holy mother of *beep*, how (and why) do they grow up so fast??? They just make me feel like I am stuck in some limbo while everything and everybody else is moving swiftly past me. Swish swish swish…

Well, I know from my dad’s side, a lot of my cousins are way older than me. Another niece of mine (daughter of yet another cousin) even married one of my closest friends, who I have treated like a brother since primary school days…



…and they already have two freaking kids.

These are just a few of my nieces I’m mentioning here. There are even many other nieces who are older than me! Comon, nieces! Stop it. Give your uncles a chance to grow up at their own slow and desired pace, ok? We’re in no rush, so why should you be?

Anyway, my niece Eunice (which rhymes, capisce?) and I had a great time bonding over family and stuff, and it was something I haven’t done in a really long time. For people like me who had stayed outside Mizoram since third standard, it’s not that easy staying connected with all my cousins and their children (and I come from a really huge family from both my mom and dad’s side).

We spent Saturday watching movies in the morning and Barclays Premier League matches in the evening. She’s a Manure fan (oh the horror!!!) and we watched her team barely win against a struggling out-of-form Everton side.

After that we watched my team AR53NAL play against CH3L5EA. And we all know the result of that match. That, my friend, is the true Arsenal team.

After watching Arsenal hump Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, my niece bowed her head in shame, and quietly uttered, “You know what, uncle? After watching your team and my team play tonight, I have now come to realize that when we beat your team 8-2 at Old Trafford, you guys had around NINE main players absent due to suspension, injury and transfer. Most of your players then were from the reserve team and it was not such a great glory after all to win by that much. In fact when we lost 6-1 to City at our OWN home, with a full strength squad, that was the ultimate disgrace and shame for us. At least when you guys lost 8-2, it was not a home match for you guys. But for us, it was indeed a home match, and we all know the vast difference when it comes to pressure while playing home and away matches. So any football fan will know how much more shameful 6-1 is than that 8-2. As of now, I am going to burn all my Manure posters and I am going to start supporting Arsenal. Will you guys accept me as a Gunner fan? Please, uncle, pretty please? If not for me, then at least for my great grandfather (and your grandfather), the late Pu Zabanga’s sake?”

That’s what she told me that night…

Actually I think she said something like, “What shall we have for dinner?” but that’s what I heard coming out of her mouth.

Anyhoo, I finally dropped her at the station on Sunday evening as she had to get back to her hostel. Strangely, as I watched her go, there I was, standing like a proud uncle.

After she disappeared into the sea of commuters, I went to Santa Cruz to meet my old school mate and really close friend Hminga, who had come down to Mumbai with his dad (Pu Rinsanga, IAS rtd) and dad-in-law (Pu Liansanga, Engg-in-Chief rtd). They were on a vacation.

They wanted to try seafood, so I took them to the best seafood joint I know – Soul Fry @ Bandra. From Bombil cutlet to Surmai fry to Pomfret masala to Crab & Prawn main courses, we tried them all, occasionally flushed down with a pitcher of Tuborg draft beer. And they absolutely loved it.

Both the dads knew my parents so well that it was just like sitting with my own family members. They told me stories about my mom’s school days, my dad’s bachelor days, how they met each other, when they got married etc etc. I really had a great time sitting with the two wonderful dads and listening to them talk. What was even more fascinating was that they both knew my girlfriend’s parents extremely well too, and they started telling me stories about them also, while teasing me now and then.

I still can’t stop marveling at how so many of our previous generation knew almost everybody, whereas when it comes to our generation, we hardly know each other.

We soon parted ways, and with that ended my awesome family bonding weekend. This was definitely one of those weekends worth cherishing for a long long time.

12 comments:

mangbuhril said...

good reading, looks like a family post , thought the title would've been aptly "grown up nieces/cousins..hehe.
Good to know Angu's wife is ur niece.
Btw Arsene Wenger's boys played a very very good game that day against my team Chelsea, hope they continue to do this against Big teams like Man U , Man City etc. What Arsenal needed is to finish the last 5/6 games in EPL, hope they do it this time.

Mizohican said...

oh mang, you know Anggu? small world aye? :D

and yes, we played well, but you know what? thats how we're always going to play from now on :)

jimmy ralte said...

Arsenal tan chu nuam khawp mai .. Match khelh hma khan kan thenawm tleirawl Chelsea tan hoin an pet goal zat tur min sawi khum vel a.. Sunday inkhawm banah kan in chibai dawn nia an tia..inkhawm banah an biru char2 a ka va chibai hram kha..btw nice post!

Mizohican said...

@ Jimmy: lolzzz keini pawh kan office a Chhesi fans ho chu an biru vek nimin khan. A va han nuammmm tak e aw. Hei hi a lawm, Arsenal fans leh fans dang kan inanlohna em chu. Kan club hi kan zahpui lo. Ka blog ah pawh khan ka lo chhuah ngei kha, 8-2 a kan chakloh tuk khan ka Arsenal jersey office ah ka ha ngats. Ka zak lo reng reng. Khami ni kha chu "Wear your Arsenal jersey to work" Day ah an puang a, khawvel a gooners tam tak chuan an ha. Chelsea leh Manuih fans ve chu, an home ah 5-3 leh 6-1 in an han chaklo dek dek a, an jersey leh poster te an thukru nghal sap sap mai. Hei vang hi a nia Gunners fan nih nuam ka ti emmm emmm!

daniel said...

The trouble with getting 'old' is you dont realise it till you notice every one calls you ' Ka Pu'. And you also realise President Obama is only as old as you and he's the President of USA.
Signs of maturity in a Mizo guy is when he starts to take interest in all his relatives and how they are related and how far he can trace his ancestry etc etc. Anyway, best thing is to grow old gracefully.

Aduhi Chawngthu said...

Nephews and nieces growing up... I can write a thousand words on this. You've known them since the day they were born, and when you haven't seen them in years the mental picture you have is of them as kids. And suddenly you find they are all grown up, some them even married and having kids and would no longer laugh when you talk about their childhood days (like how they would come to the house with their friends and go straight for the biscuits box). And the unmarried ones are all inti-nula and inti-tlangval and don't like it one bit when asked "Pawl engzat nge i nih tawh" hahahha....

H.Vangchhia said...

Niece ivan nei chhelo teh tawt ve a. Funny te ho kha an nghal viau tur ania hehehehe.

In chhungkua in puitling hlawm hle mai. KZP

SoNotGood said...

Nu Na-i's kids? Are we friggin' related? Not surprised tho', half of Aizawl is.

Mizohican said...

@ NotGood: Bwahaha. Yeah we are friggin' related! :D But not blood related. Your "Nu Na-i" is my "U Na-i". Her husband's my cousin. I knew about this since "those days" :P and yeah, half of Aizawl is truly related. In a few years, we're gonna be nothing but a huge bunch of deformed inbreeds :D

@ H.Vangchhia: Funny a te lakah ven an ngai tlat mai, ka in ring ran e. lolzzz :D

Mizohican said...

@ aduhi: lolzzz the other day I was thinking of paying my mumbai niece a visit at her hostel, and as I was planning to buy gems chocolates, uncle chips, frooti, and even brown paper to cover her study books, my mizo friends laughed, reminding me that she's not a kid anymore and those were not the things I should be buying. *sigh*

@ daniel: So true!!!! 2-3 years ago, I did indeed underwent a huge task tracing my roots and relatives. These were things I never used to be bothered with before, but now, all I do is trace trace trace and try to see how that person is related to me... ahhh... growing old... :(

Mimihrahsel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mimihrahsel said...

lovely post bru! I was wondering why You did not put my pictures up, then I realised Im your cousin, and not your niece.lolz.. I wish we could all go on a family picnic someday. ALL OF US! And I will be a Gooner all the way, with or without bf :D.. most probably "WITH".. my fingers are crossed ;-)