{Y} is FOR You FILL UP MY SENSES

It’s Saturday morning and Homi Mistry is wooing Freni with, “You fill up my senses“. Freni is giggling with gay abandon. They have been married for sixty-five  years now. Mistrys are residents of the Dadar Parsi colony. April, every year, they wait with much anticipation for their grandchildren to troop in to their humble home. The children spend a few weeks of their summer vacations with the Mistrys.

The children are arriving today. Homi has been pretty upbeat, and it manifests in his melodious singing. He now switches gears by playing the cassette for John Denver’s, “Annie’s Song-You fill Up My Senses“, on his Philips two-in-one; and pulls Freni into a dance. They laugh like they have fallen in love all over again, swaying to the slow rhythm of the music, in each others arms. Freni also blushes some. They are a sight to behold.

Homi or Homla was a handy men in a factory, before he retired twenty years back. Freni spent most of her life looking after the family, that included two sons and a daughter. Their children are now all well settled, in different well-to-do professions, and live in the same city. But their busy lives doesn’t allow them much time with their old parents. They try to find a middle ground and make amends by sending their children to Homla and Freni during the summer vacations.

The kids love their grandparents home, which has a tiny orchard that also homes a mango, chikoo and jamun tree. They spend many afternoons climbing the trees and plucking the fruits, while Homla and Freni grab forty winks. Later in the afternoon when Freni sees them with their Jamun stained tee-shirts, she doesn’t waste time rebuking them, but laughs out loud and makes her way to the kitchen to make them some piping hot Akoori (Parsi scrambled egg), with buttered  toast. She believes kids were born to be pampered silly.

On this bright Saturday morning, the children start arriving one by one. First the eight-year old twins, Sia and Ria, then eleven-year old Rustom with his Beagle, Dennis in tow, and finally Cyrus the oldest of the lot, who is the family’s youngest percussionist at fourteen. The house is bustling with activity today, compared to it’s usual sombre atmosphere. The air is riddled with laughter, excitement and non-stop chatter. The cousins are not just bonding with each other, but sharing their school and neighbourhood stories, as the grandparents lend an enchanted ear. The enticing fragrance of Dhansak (meat and vegetables in a mixed lentil gravy), Patra ni Macchi (fish stuffed with green coconut sauce, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed) waft through the rooms. The family is famished and can’t wait to devour Freni’s finger licking meal.

As everybody make themselves comfortable in the four-seater dining table, by pulling in stools and extra chairs; they hear the door bell ring multiple times.

“Who could it be at this time?” says Freni, a bit surprised.

“Don’t worry darling, I’ll go get it,” says Homla and he totters away to open the door.

Suddenly a loud echo of voices in a sing-along fashion fill the house, “Surprise!!!!”

Freni and Homla’s two sons, their respective wives and their daughter and son-in-law are standing by the door. and they all pounce upon Homla wrapping him in a big hug.

Freni comes rushing. Her heart leaps in joy at the sight of her progeny, who have now come trooping in. They are planting kisses one by one on her forehead and hugging her at the same time.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I would have cooked a bigger spread,” she lovingly admonishes them.

“Oh Mumma! Come on, it wouldn’t have been a surprise then,” says Feroze the eldest, enveloping her in a tight hug.

Homla, inserts the tape into the two-in one and John Denver starts to croon, “You fill up my senses…” He draws his daughter into a dance and twirls her around, as she giggles with joy.

Feroze dances with Freni and rest of the family comes together in a dance of unity and celebration. Old ties have yet again been re-created; and what better day than Homla and Freni’s Sixty-fifth anniversary.

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My theme for this year’s Blogging from A-Z Challenge is April Anecdotes. These are twenty-six compelling tales of some real people, and some not so real people. These tales will be surreal, peppered with a dose of non-fiction, but some might just be a figment of my over active imagination. You can read my theme here.

You can read my previous posts from #AtoZChallenge2018 here:

A is for Anachronism or Misplaced in Time?

B is for Burden or Unburden?

C is for Control

D is for Destiny’s Child

E is for Enchantment

F is for Far from the Maddening Crowd 

G is for Goblins, Gnomes and Gypsy Spirits

H is for Heart, Mind and Soul

K is for Kiss

L is for Love Conquers All

M is for Mystic’s Magic

N is for Never Say Never

O is for One With Nature

P is for Painted Not Tainted

Q is for Queer and Quirky

R is Reminiscing the Yesteryears

S is for Signs

T is for Thankful for Your Tender Love

U is for Uplifting Our Energy

V is for Vivacious Souls