Taranjit
The panic and hyper clean mode activates when that phone rings and it’s an uncle or aunt or relative calling to say they are coming over. Your mom picks up the phone, a smile on her face, always replying with “Of course. Come on over. We are home.” But inside, she might be like, “Why today? They think they can call last minute and just show up at our house? What if we had plans?” It’s a Desi Thing.
Not like we had plans, but that sudden surprise is not always a pleasant one. In an Indian household, the house has to be nice and clean and lots of food has to be prepared before the guests come over, even if they are relatives or direct family. You could say it’s the Indian hospitality.
I can hear it now, my mom saying to start cleaning immediately. No sitting down to take a break until everything is nice and neat for when they arrive. Luckily, we live a little far out from practically everyone that we have the time to perform a massive cleaning and organization before they arrive. But if they lived nearby, we would probably never succeed. Let me change that. We would not be able to do it. One pillow would be placed in the right position, and the doorbell would be rung. Thank goodness we live in the middle of nowhere.
My sister and I start moving around quickly, sweeping the floors, vacuuming the carpet, Windexing tables and pictures, laying out the rug that only comes out when guests come, clearing off the dining room table, and organizing the daybed in the living room. Do you have that one item that you only put out for guests? Well for us, that’s the rug. We have a fancy, little more expensive rug that is rolled up and put away in a safe, clean place, and only comes out when guests come.
You finally manage to clean and organize the first floor, but your job has only just started. The second floor also has to be tidy up because we all have those Indian relatives that just love to wander around your house and look into every single room. Your auntie or uncle and their family come in, and the first thing they all ask for is a bathroom. And of course, you typically don’t have more than two. So, you send one to the bathroom on the first floor and the other to the one on the second floor. Little do you know, it’s more of an excuse for them have access to your upstairs without suspicions. Their ticket to looking around into each and every room and closet on the entire second floor. No wonder it takes them so long to use the “bathroom.” They need something to gossip about. If you know Indian adults, they love to talk about others. How our house was, the food that we served, and how us kids are. Even if their own kids are much worse or their own house is the same or worse.
My friend always comments on why I do all of this massive house makeover when guests or friends are coming over. She always says if they don’t like how my house is then they don’t need to come over. Oh, my dear friend, you never met Indians. That would never fly. The culture is just so different.
All the work that goes into preparing your house for guests, just makes me want to go to their house every time we haven’t hung out in a while over them coming to ours. Am I the only one?
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