A First New Phone...

She wanted to learn to speak good English, so her son suggested Duolingo, which helps to learn English with the help of native language of user. Suddenly, one day, she dialed her son and asked why her Duolingo wasn't working. It was due to an issue with one latest update that doesn't support the phone.

Another day, the doorbell rang, and the mother was shocked to see her son on the doorstep.

It was a pleasant surprise.

She could not believe that her son had gifted her a phone. She was reluctant to use it. She started treating it like a precious gem. She explained that she would use her old phone to listen to songs on YouTube, as her new phone might spoil.

Her first instinctive question after looking at it was, Why don't you get a new sofa instead of a phone?

And the next was - "I don't even need that costly phone. I don't work or earn - why do I deserve it now? Why don't you use it and give me an old phone? Why don't you save your money?"

This was a sweet moment between my mom and my brother. 

Witnessing this conversation made me happy, proud of my lil bro, and sad at the same time. She deserves more than a phone, and that woman is prioritizing everything in the world before herself. She even justified saying she doesn't earn, so she doesn't deserve it.

The situations she was brought up in and the surroundings she was in were different compared to what I experienced. All her life revolved around my dad, me, my brother, and 100 other people. She is accustomed to satisfying everyone else and has completely forgotten to have a strong opinion. 

She doesn't put her needs like they are important. We try telling it but that was ingrained since childhood and hard to let go. Living independently, trying new things, getting exposed to people of different ages, cultures might bring in new perspectives which she missed. She did not want me to miss it all. She will be the first person to approve of a bizarre things I do. She finds joy in our little accomplishments. She also forces me to do reels which I reject. 

He turned 23!

My mom never owned a new phone, similar to a younger kid in a family who gets the old clothes of an older kid. I am happy she got a new phone. So her experience made me realize she did not live her life to the fullest. I wish someday I could prove that life is much more than responsibility and scarifies.

I wanted her to experience the craziness life have to offer and all we need to do is take that chance! 

Maybe we learnt from the previous generation not to compromise.

We all jammed together after 3 months and had a great time dancing, watching movies, shopping, celebrating the festival, and meeting my extended family and friends. 

Bathukamma's Mandatory Pose..

I did not write about a lot that happened after the previous post. I went on a couple of short trips, met old friends, got lost in a forest, ate an authentic local food, gave a send off and most importantly laughed and lived every moment!