My Family and other Animals
It's Punjabi, but about more than weddings and butter chicken. My family has all the celebrated characteristics of the Punjabi tribe - spunk, spirit, an affinity for big, flashy things and the propensity to invite half the world to a simple engagement. But they are also warm, resourceful, endlessly generous and eternally concerned.
Meet the Parents
The Patriarch
Anoop Arora wanted to be a doctor, but became a businessman and his family's most accomplished amateur pharmacist. A graduate of the Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, he got married to a girl he had known throughout his schooling, but had never really met. He gave up law when the young couple discovered that they were expecting their first child. Therefore, were it not for me, Anoop Arora would have been a Supreme Court judge today, for all you know.
The man I call Pa is the most patient, steady character I have ever known. Dad is The Rock, someone who's always ready to drop you to class, take you to the doctor, do sundry odd jobs for you, pamper you silly and worry himself to distraction if you cough twice. And no matter how lazy, irresponsible and generally unworthy I've been, Dad is always there, ready to shoulder my burdens.
My Daddy strongest.Mother Dear Mother
Shweta Arora also - surprise surprise - wanted to be a doctor. However, AFMC, Pune, was too far away for a slightly conservative family in the 80s, so she also got married to a man she had known throughout school but had never really met. Domesticity shrunk her horizons a little, but not for long. Along with two children, she has also nurtured her various talents. They include cooking, drawing, writing and dance. A science graduate from Miranda House, Delhi, she is also a postgraduate in Hindi literature.
Mommy is the one who sang me songs and read to me as a child. I have her to thank for my love of books and the patronage of successive English teachers in school. Mom's most amazing quality is her stubborn belief that there's a way to fix almost everything. It comes in very handy when you're stuck with Maths problems, temperamental appliances and a general fear of life.
I need my Mommy's food when I get home every evening, but most of all, I need my Mommy home when I get there. Home is where Ma is. My salaam.Sibling Revelry
'Tushar' means cool, something Tushar Arora would like to believe he is. This 18-year-old student of hotel management does all things cool - listens to rock at an imhuman volume, wears baggy jeans and drops his girlfriend home. However, he seems to be wiser than his years sometimes. He's the guy who drops sick batchmates to the airport (the institute is in Aurangabad, Maharashtra). He's the one who drinks less so that he can haul the sloshed ones to bed. And he's the only one who tells me exactly how badly I screw it up.
My little brother is often older to me in practice. My worst critic and the most promising candidate for the post of time-managment trainer, my little brother is not so little anymore.