I took a vacation with my parents

Trust me, it was not weird

I live on the south-east coast of India, in Chennai. My parents are in Hyderabad, a city fast emerging as a competitor to Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India.

Introductions aside, my parents and I don’t get a lot of face time. We all work, and my parents are also full-time caregivers to my paternal grandparents, who are both very old.

It’s safe to say that my parents are among the busiest senior citizens I know.

So, when they said they were visiting me for a few days (longer than usual), I pulled all stops to make a vacay happen. But my parents, being my parents, said, “Let’s go somewhere close and we want to see our Thanjavur.”

Jumping at the chance to drive around, I agreed and off we went. It was only then that I realised I had never been on a trip with just my parents. Movies and lunches and dinners, sure; shopping even, but never a holiday or a vacation. My brother would be there, sometimes my grandparents or the rest of the family.

As we went on, I discovered how much older my parents have gotten. Little niggles, tired yawns and slower walks - these small changes told me a new story.

I drove them around Thanjavur and Kumbakonam, and we visited the many temples between and around these two towns. If they were annoyed with the heat and the incessant travelling, my parents never showed it.

They were grateful that they got some time away from being the ones to give care. For a change, they were being taken care of.

As we drove, we quarrelled over what songs to play and which restaurant to eat at. It was mostly my parents bickering and me choosing sides. My father, the most talkative in the family, would lull my mother to sleep, and she would stretch her legs on the backseat and snore softly even as my father would chuckle at her.

I’d click photos of them, but they would insist on clicking atrocious selfies and fail colossally. Eventually, I’d be forced to do it and be an unwitting member of the picture.

Our vacation was ultra short, and it was anything but fancy, but it had unconditional love and affection, the kind you can experience only with your parents.