Brooding Roosters By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini Swaminathan
7:00 AM. It's a Saturday. No need to run around like on a weekday morning. Kumar and baby Swati were sleeping. I woke up, made some coffee in the microwave and switched on the computer. Every week, without fail, Mom and Dad show up on the Net. They have to chat with their only daughter (who lives in the U.S) at least once a week. "We have married you off to someone in a faraway place. At least, through the computer, we are able to see you and baby Swati!" Mom gushes. There is tough competition between Mom and Dad to see who operates the computer better! As soon as I log in, Dad messages, "Hey! Gayatri, How are you?" "Hello Dad, I am fine." "How is your new house?" Mom asks. "It's good...we haven't been able to arrange all the things properly yet. It’ll take us some time to settle in." "That's okay, what is the hurry? You have to go to work, take care of the baby as well. How much can you do? If you were in India, Dad and I would have given you a hand... hmmmm" "Okay, mom‌ relax ! Kumar helped me. Not a big deal" I laugh. "Good, what are your weekend plans? The party is tomorrow right?" Dad says. "Yes, we have invited the neighbours. A chance to get to know them better." "You mean even those from the house opposite to yours?" a more worried Mom asks. "No mom...we haven't invited them."
Brooding Roosters By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini Swaminathan
"Good, we don't need all that nonsense in our home...just stay away, okay?" "Alright mom, let it be. How's Periappa? How's Uma's work?" I change the topic. People think that life in America is perfect. Our relatives in India always say, "Oh, you live in America. You have no problems!" There are problems and issues in living in America as well. Though you have a good salary, a car, a house, clean air, water, neat roads and a peaceful life on one hand, you also have cultural issues…love at age ten, pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancy, divorce and so on! We should just not pay heed to these things here. And it is not easy raising kids in a culture, which is totally different from ours. You worry when you see the ten-year-old girl next door go on a date. What will our children do tomorrow? And as if this is not enough, we have the man-man and woman-woman relationships! I don't think mom is wrong when she says "Times are getting worse!” Last week, when we shifted to this house, Raghu from the opposite house welcomed us with an effusive "Nal Varavu" (welcome in chaste Tamil) and brought us coffee, muffins and a basket of fruits. We were so excited to know that an Indian (that too a Tamil speaking one) lived so close to us. Kumar asked him, "Where is your native place?" "New Jersey. I was born and brought up there. My parents are from Chennai," said Raghu. "That’s nice! Who else makes up your family?" I said. "Myself, my partner Rob and our daughter Kamala." "Rob...?" I was slightly confused. "Yes, Rob...Robinson" "............"
Brooding Roosters By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini Swaminathan
"......................." Unmindful of our reactions, Raghu continued, "Rob likes Indians. He will be very happy to meet you. Why don't you come over for dinner?" Kumar and I didn't know what to say. After a moment of awkwardness we managed to get out of the situation. "Some other time, there is much to be done today." When we met such people for the first time in this country, we felt very weird. What was all this? How was this possible? Man-man, womanwoman…it disgusted us. We feared that such people might be retarded. Right in front of our house, two men as a couple - with a kid - was rather tough to accept! "Had we known this, we wouldn't have bought a house here,” Kumar was irritated. "Leave it alone, Kumar, how does it bother us?" Kumar made a casual mention of this on one of our chats with Mom and Dad. Mom’s worries began from there. "Don’t send the children there! Don’t hang out with that girl either." A deluge of advice. I shared some of her worries. Why interact with them unnecessarily? We didn’t invite them to our housewarming party. The party was a success. We had a lot of guests. Conversations, good food…time just went by. Everyone loved 'Indian food'. "Yummy samosas, Mrs. Kumar" Andrea exclaimed. "You have a lovely daughter," said Mark.
Brooding Roosters By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini Swaminathan
Two Indian families, four American families and one Chinese family in the neighbourhood and they were all nice. Then Andrea said, "Did you meet Rob and Raghu? They live right across from you," and began singing their praises. They were nice people, very helpful. Rob was a celebrated author. Raghu was a computer engineer. Their daughter Kamala was very cute. "A-grade student. An African-American girl. Still, she speaks Tamil. She knows Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music.� Andrea wouldn’t stop. I kept nodding till I manage to escape by saying, "Kumar is calling me." Though it was easy to escape from Andrea, it was not easy avoiding the two who lived right across. Rob and Raghu always tried to strike up a conversation when they saw us. When we went weekend shopping, they were there as well. Yet, Kumar and I managed to evade them. Their girl Kamala and Swati were in the same school. When Raghu came over to ask if Kamala and Swati could work on a school project together, Kumar avoided the idea by telling him that Swati already had a project partner. We felt really awkward about them. "Gayatri, just don't let Swati hang around with that girl!" Kumar would keep telling me. One Friday evening, Kumar hadn't come back from office yet. Swati returned from school and went to dance class. I was watching T.V, when I heard some sound at the door. I opened the door "Mrs. Kumar...how are you? Sorry for disturbing you...I need your help", said a worried Raghu. ".........................." "I just had a call. Rob met with an accident on the way from work," said Raghu in a trembling voice. I was shocked. "What? Is he fine?"
Brooding Roosters By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini Swaminathan
"I don't know. I am going to the hospital. Kamala will come back from school. Could you please let her stay at your place? Please? Andrea is not in town. Had she been here, I would not have disturbed you", he pleaded. "Sure" I replied without any hesitation. "Thank you, Mrs. Kumar" "No problem, I do hope Rob is fine." "I hope so too," Raghu replied with tears in his eyes. When Kamala returned from school, I brought her home. When she asked about Raghu, I could not muster up the courage to tell her the truth. She is just eight. How could I tell her about the accident? She didn't want to eat anything. I gave her some juice. After a while, Swati came back and the three of us sat on the lawn. "I like your house," smiled Kamala, "You know, I can speak Tamil." "Oh, really?" "Yes, Appa talks in Tamil. Even daddy knows some Tamil." "Appa? Daddy?" I was confused. "Oh, I know, it's confusing. Raghu is my Appa. Rob is my daddy". But even though that was said in perfect innocence, I didn't feel okay about it. What was this confusion? This child must miss her mother and father. Poor girl! "What?! Two daddies?" Swati was laughing loudly. "Swati, what is this? Stop!" I stared at my daughter. "Yes. I have two daddies," replied Kamala serenely while Swati continued to laugh. "You have no mummy?"
Brooding Roosters By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini Swaminathan
"Yes, that's why I have two daddies. I don’t want my mummy. I have two daddies and they both love me," said Kamala and opened her school bag. "Mrs. Kumar, this is my school project." and she showed me a notebook. Under the topic "My family", there were some sketches and a few notes. Everything was very neat. She opened the first page. "Let me show you." I was shocked to see the photo on that page. It showed a scrawny, bony baby with dry lips, drooping eyes lying in a garbage dump. "This is my first picture. In Martinique Island, my mom left me in the garbage as soon as I was born. She was very poor." "What?" I didn’t know what to say. "Yes." She turned the page. "See, this was when I turned one. This was taken when Raghu Appa came to Martinique Island to adopt me". She pointed to a picture of Raghu sitting with an African-American woman in an office. On the next page, "This is my first photo with them." Raghu was holding a one-year-old Kamala. Next to him was a visibly happy Rob. What a lovely picture! It was a wonderful thing that they adopted Kamala. If not, what would have happened to this baby? Kamala turned the pages slowly. Her first birthday, Raghu's parents, Rob's sister, Kamala's first day at school, a surprise party thrown by Kamala and Rob on Raghu's birthday, Disneyland. She kept talking about ‘Appa’ and ‘daddy’. Even as I listened to her, I was worried. Was Rob’s condition serious? Poor Kamala! I felt very bad for her. The phone rang. It was Raghu.
Brooding Roosters By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini Swaminathan
"Mrs.Kumar, is Kamala with you?” "Yes, she is here. How is Rob?" "He had a head injury and lost a lot of blood. They need to do a surgery immediately." Raghu’s voice cracked as he said that and I could hear him crying. "Oh God, surgery?" Kamala realised that something was wrong and came running. "Appa, is it Appa? I want to talk to him!" I could not say no. "Appa, what happened?" She started trembling as soon as she heard Raghu's voice. I bent down and hugged her. She began crying uncontrollably. "Daddy...I want to see my daddy!" she cried loudly. I took the phone back and told Raghu that we would come to the hospital. I called up Kumar and asked him to meet me there. Then I drove both the kids to the hospital, praying silently all along. Kumar got to the hospital just as I entered. We found Raghu sitting outside the Emergency room in shambles. As soon as she saw him, Kamala ran to him, crying ‘Appa’. Raghu picked her up and hugged her. "Don’t cry, don’t, Kamala...Daddy will be fine." Kumar and I stood by, not knowing what to do. Raghu held Kumar's hands and sobbed. "The surgery is underway. They are only allowing relatives. They wouldn’t let me see him." "What?" I was stunned.
Brooding Roosters By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini Swaminathan
"Yes, Mrs. Kumar, Kamala and I are not legally related to Rob." I was furious. Kumar was confused when he saw my response. But he gathered himself together and spoke gently to Raghu. "Don’t lose hope. I’m sure he will be fine." There were so many questions and thoughts in my mind. How could they not let Raghu inside? Just because it wasn’t the norm, did that mean there was no connection? How could an eight-year-old understand this relationship while we grown-ups felt awkward about it? That is when it struck me, that when we see a man-man or woman-woman relationship we only see it as a sexual relationship! They are just like us, complete with all the feelings and emotions. Why then do we fail to see it that way? Who cares what they do in the bedroom? How narrow-minded it is to measure them just on this basis! Is a family complete only if there is a mother, a father and child? Isn't family all about love, affection and togetherness? What was wrong with two fathers when there was love? Wasn’t there motherly affection in Raghu consoling Kamala? Was the affection of Raghu for Rob, who is struggling for life, just based on sex? Wasn’t that love too? If this arrangement brings them happiness, peace and a sense of family, who were we to reject it? How was my family better than theirs? Two months later… 7:00 AM: It is a Saturday. There’s no need to run around like on a weekday morning. Kumar and baby Swati were sleeping. I wake up, make some coffee in the microwave and switch on the computer. As soon as I log in, Dad messages, "Gayatri, how are you?" "Hello Dad, I am fine."
Brooding Roosters By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini Swaminathan
"Weekend, what plans?" Mom asks. "Rob is being discharged and coming home today. Kumar, Swati, Raghu and Kamala are going to bring him back. Today, everyone is having lunch at our home." I smile.