The Tiresome Trip

 During the past week, I had an amazing time at Srirangam.

We went to many temples with my grandmother and grandfather.

On the 3rd day of our trip, we went to a temple which was quite far away.  So we started off at 6 am, and I woke up at 5:30 am.

After we climbed into the car and took our seats, my father started the car and we zoomed off, our car purring as it fed on the kilometres that passed.

I was ready to snooze off in the car, as I had already woken up early, and, I did need to save energy for the exhausting day ahead.

It's what my parents expected me to do too.

My father drove, and my mom sat next to him with my sister on her lap.

I sat in the back row with my grandparents. And I was in the middle.

Just as my eyelids became heavy and were about to give up with the weight, my grandfather made sure to snap them back open by narrating a perfect story about a famous heavy electricals factory. He told me all about its manager, its workers, and the area it occupies. Even though I tuned out most of the conversation (more like explanation), I made sure to nod and grunt in between.

Then he went off ranting about good colleges I can choose, and about what I should study. 

That's when my grandmother came in, scolding my grandfather not to blurt out too much information, or else he'll scramble my brain.

Literally 5 minutes had passed since she said that, and then it was my grandmother's turn to unload information that'll clot my brain. She pointed to a few colleges that passed by, showing that the campus was huge. She also talked about how the students will have to live in the college campus and bla, bla, bla. 

Then my parents joined in and suggested a few things I should study. And a few colleges which they said were really good. 

I grunted and grunted and grunted. 

I envied my sister, for she was sleeping peacefully on my mother's lap. And no one woke her up and bugged her about studies and colleges.

A few minutes later, we came across farm lands, with flat fields for growing rice and wheat.

My grandmother said, "Look at this land! Isn't it so clean, and flat?"

That's when my grandfather said, "The right word to use is fertile. Fertile land. To grow rice and wheat."

My grandmother ignored him. "Such clean soil. This is where we get rice from!"

My grandfather interrupted her. "Fertile. Fertile soil."

"The farmers first plough the clean soil, and-"

"Fertile."

"They harvest the plants after they're grown. Then the clean soil-"

"Fertile."

"Then the clean soil-"

"Fertile soil."

"The clean-"

"Fertile."

That's when I had had enough and I shouted for them to stop.

I told them that all I wanted to do at the moment was sleep. And that made them leave me alone.

My father had put some music on so he won't fall asleep. He was listening to a song about trees near the riverbeds.

My grandmother had obviously gotten fidgety that she couldn't see any more "clean soil" or colleges anymore. And obviously she had to say something so she started explaining about the meaning of the song.

I felt like I could cry. My parents were snickering from the front, whispering about how I wouldn't be listening to anything, and my grandfather was shouting at my grandmother for disturbing me.

My grandmother was arguing about how she was just explaining things to me, and my sister was happily sleeping.

How jealous I am of her for getting out of situations easily.

That's when I begged for peace, leaned forward and rested my head against my mom's seat. Everyone had silenced themselves, and I managed to get a few minutes of sleep.

Then something - I don't know what - woke me up, and I leaned back again onto my seat, yawning. 

That's when my grandmother pointed to a river, and started explaining about the song again.

I whimpered, and she stopped talking. 

Then we FINALLY reached our destination. 

I am grateful to God for helping me to get through this trip.

🙏🏼🙏🏼