Family Matters

Well, yeah, I did lift off the title from Rohinton Mistry. But the story is my own. I was just chatting with a cousin over GTalk and he was lamenting his separation from his family with him being posted in Hyderabad, his brother studying in Chennai and his dad working in Delhi, with mom left home-alone most of the day. That forced me to recount my own story. We're a close-knit family but I have had more than my share of separation...

The timeline -

1983 - Dad left India for the Gulf when I was 1.
1985 - We joined him. The next 5 years was the only time that my immediate family, mom-dad-bro n I spent together.
1990 - The Gulf War. That meant dad went to our family home in Bombay to find temporary work while the Gulf War raged on. My mom-bro-I went to Madras where we set up a new educational base.
1991 - Dad returns to the Gulf. It is decided that we stay in India for the benefit of our education. My grannys close shop in Bombay and join us at Madras. This is our permanent base since.
1998 - After 7 years of my mom alternating 6 months with my dad and 6 months with us, my dad decides to return for good to Madras. Another few months of togetherness..
1999 - I start college. My brother finishes college and goes to the US to pursue his higher studies.
2004 - I leave to pursue my own higher studies.
2008- After nomading around the US with multiple bases, I get married and settle down with my husband in France.

Now, the family is spread across 3 continents. The saving grace in all of this has been that ours was a joint family with my grandmothers living with us and caring for us. And it is only now that I can appreciate the sacrifices that my parents made by enduring these prolonged separations - all for the greater good, for the betterment of our family and our lives. Thank you all.