The month of March, marched ahead and soon it was April and then May arrived. Tania's thesis had been accepted and as the college was giving out the degrees in May that year, her grandparents would be there to applaud her success when she went on stage to accept her Degree.
By now she was regularly talking to her maternal grandmother as well as her paternal grandfather and grandmother. Both her grandmothers had informed her that they had to fight with the menfolks to get them to agree to meet her and if possible to bring her to their folds. It was up to her to decide with which family she wanted to spend the rest of her life till she got married etc. Tania had to act in such a way that she did not hurt the sentiments of either party.
Hence, she informed them diplomatically that both sides were close to her heart and mind. She could not make a decision over the phone. However, she would need to spend time with both the families separately, amidst their local surroundings. Only then could she make up her mind. This would mean staying at Khayenky, the small village near Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine as well as going to Dharmshala, India to spend some time there.
Both sides were agreeable to this suggestion of her as obviously, there was no other option. Soon the day of their arrival started to draw near. Both sides of her relatives were trying to make bookings at the hotels near her home. Tania would have none of this, and she told them that the house was big enough to accommodate them all. They should stay with her as the families should get to know one another. She added that she would love to eat whatever her grandmothers cooked. Saying this clinched the issue. The relatives decided to stay in her huge house.
Tania was sure that the souls of her parents would be at peace knowing that she had called their parents, from both sides, to come to their house and bridge the difference that they had not been able to overcome.
Her paternal grandparents had left their home as planned and were on their way to Delhi on the train. They would reach Delhi early morning and at night they would take the flight from Delhi to reach the airport at Moscow on the morning of the 21st May. Her maternal grandmother and her uncle would also be leaving their village tomorrow night and stay at a hotel near the airport at Kyiv. They would catch the early morning flight on 21st morning to reach Moscow airport at about the same time as her paternal grandparents.
Tania was on cloud nine, the happiest person one could find on this side of the equator. It was as if God had given her the prized treasures of heaven.
After having a sumptuous dinner she went to sleep early as she had to get up at the crack of dawn to rush to the airport to receive her relatives.
She slept soundly without having any dreams. Perhaps the excitement and the fact that she had to get up early to receive 4 people made her sleep without waking up in the night.
She had set an alarm for 4.30 am, for just before dawn. She got up went to the washroom to complete her ablution. She had a few Indian dresses as well as a few pinafore dresses that the Russian girls sometimes wore. Besides this, she had normal western clothes and jeans that she used to wear to college. She did not know if she should wear an Indian suit or the pinafore one. Since she did not want to annoy any of her grandparents, she decided to go in her normal jeans, warm sweatshirt and her jacket with matching bluish shoes.
It was still cold in the mornings. She made a sandwich and tea for herself. She sat down to eat the sandwich and washed it down with a cup of tea. It was a long drive to the airport, and she had no intention to reach late. Late meant when the passengers had disembarked from the flights. She knew that she had to do a bit of juggling to gather both sides to one point. But she would handle that at the airport.
She locked up the house and went to the garage to bring out the car and back it through the driveway. While she was reversing, she kept thinking what would the relatives prefer to eat? She had stocked the fridge with fruits and vegetables. The fridge had been stocked with curds and ice cream too. She was not an excellent cook but had managed to make the dough and cut a few vegetables to be cooked for lunch.
At this time in the morning, there was hardly any traffic on the roads. Within an hour she reached the airport, parked her car and was rushing around to look to where her grandparents would be clearing the customs etc at the arrivals' area. She checked the board for the arrivals. Both the flights, from India and from Ukraine, were arriving within a few minutes of each other.
Luckily she had made a placard so that her grandparents could read that. She had written her name on it as 'Tania Gagarin Sharma'. The name was unique but could be read and recognized from the Gagarin in the center by her maternal grandmother and her maternal uncle as they were Gagarin too. The Sharma on the placard could be recognized by her paternal grandparents as they were Sharma too.
She had to wait for some time. The flights had not yet arrived as per the announcements being made. However, the flights were on time and would be landing shortly within 20-30 minutes. The time was moving so slowly. Tania was waiting in anticipation.
Soon the announcement was made that the International flight from New Delhi had arrived. Tania was very happy. Within half an hour or 1 hour, she would, at last, meet her grandparents from India.
The announcement came again that the flight from Ukraine had come and would be landing shortly.
Tania kept waiting anxiously for her grandparents to come out. After about 45 minutes she saw an elderly woman in a sari and an elderly man in trousers and coat with tie walk out, pushing a trolley loaded with luggage ahead of them. They saw her placard and then changed directions to come towards her. Both her grandparents hugged her so tightly that she was almost out of breath. Her grandmother, Mira, had tears of joy flowing down her cheeks. The eyes of her grandfather were moist. Tania and her grandparents were emotionally charged.
Just then an elderly woman with snow like hair, dressed in trousers and jacket accompanied by a younger person dressed in a three-piece suit, who resembled her mother, came out, and they too were pushing a trolley full of luggage. They spotted the placard with Tania Gagarin Sharma on it and made a beeline towards her. She was soon engulfed in a huge hug by her maternal grandmother and then by her Uncle. They also had tears flowing down their cheeks.
After picking up her four relatives, two from her mother's side and two from her father's side, Tania guided them out of the airport to the driveway of the airport's arrivals. She told all to wait while she got her car.
"I think beside's Tania's car, we will need a taxi as there is quite a bit of luggage," said Pandit ji, her grandfather.
"Yes, you are right," responded Igor, Tania's maternal Uncle. "I will go and inquire about a taxi," he added. Saying this Igor went towards the booth that indicated taxi services.
Just then Tania drove up and maneuvered her car towards the pavement so that the luggage could be piled up on the carrier which she had got fitted atop her car a few days ago.
Seeing that there were only three people there, she inquired where Uncle had gone to?
Nikita informed her that her uncle had gone to get a taxi as her car could not carry all the luggage they had brought. "Child you have forgotten that we have perhaps brought too much luggage."
Igor was back and commented, "I got a taxi which is arriving here soon. I will sit in the taxi with the rest of the luggage and follow you guys who will be going in Tania's car."
True to his word the taxi arrived. The men along with the taxi driver loaded the luggage on the carriers of both the cars. Thereafter, Tania took the lead with her two grandmothers sitting in her car and the taxi followed behind.
Her grandfather insisted on taking the following taxi and went to sit besides Igor, her maternal uncle.
As Tania drove homewards, her grandmothers started to speak. She had thought that they did not speak much.
Mira asked, "Tania what do you like to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner?" She went on to add, "I have brought several Indian sweets (Mithai) for you. I did not know what you liked, so I bought a bit of each Mathai."
Tania was very happy. She loved Indian sweets. Here, she was being offered some of each. She would relish that.
"Thank you, grandma," she responded with a smile which seemed to be more like a grin.
"No, no grandma, you call me 'Dadi' or 'Dadi ma' meaning father's mother," Mira replied. "In India, the parents of the father are called 'Dada and Dadi' and the parents of the mother are called 'Nana and Nani."
Nikita was listening to the conversation and seemed to agree as she was nodding her head in agreement. "Yes, it is the best way to separately identify the grandparents from the father's side and the grandparents from the mother's side."
"Ok, Dadi ma and Ok, Nani ma," Tania responded with a smile,
Nikita seemed to like being called Nani ma.
As Tania was responding to their other queries about Moscow, the drive home did not feel boring. Time passed quickly, and they soon arrived at the home of Tania. There had been hardly any traffic on the roads while going to the airport and coming back as it was early morning still.
The taxi carrying the two men and the luggage seemed to have caught up and was stopping right behind her car. All alighted from the cars and went inside as soon as Tania opened the door with the keys.
Upon going inside they were shown the drawing-room, the dining room and the lobby. After they all had their breakfast of porridge and toasts with tea, they headed upstairs and were shown the three bedrooms where they were to stay. All the rooms had attached bathrooms. Tania told them to relax take a bath etc. They all would meet in the library by 11.30 am.
Tania went downstairs and started to prepare lunch. It was a good thing that she had learned to prepare Indian and Russian dishes from her mother. Yesterday, she had got bought fresh vegetables from the nearby store. The store stocked fresh and delicious vegetables farmed on private landholdings within the compounds of dachas (summer cottages).
She prepared mixed vegetables, lentils, curd with mashed potatoes. She made a salad of onions tomatoes and cucumber and added garnishing of coriander leaves on all these things. She then prepared a sweet dish for after lunch. She made a mint onion and tomato chutney too. Finally, she made a few chapatis (flatbread made on a griddle on which dough of wheat flour is rolled out and put to cook like thin pancakes).
Then she commenced on a few Russian dishes. She cooked them for her Nani ma and Igor Uncle. Just in case they would not want to eat the Indian dishes. But she knew that the Indian dishes would be liked by them.
She prepared Vareniki. Russians like to eat veg dumplings called Vareniki ( These dumplings are filled with mashed potatoes, cabbage, sauerkraut, cottage cheese or even cherries). They are quite close to the vegetarian momos that are available in Nepalese and Tibetan restaurants in India. She also made Blinis.
Blinis look like french pancakes and taste great with honey, jam or sour cream. She fried mushrooms and cheese to go with the Blinis. Finally, she prepared a salad of beetroot, tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini and cucumbers and laced it with olive oil and locally grown spices all obtained from the private farm.
It took her two hours to get everything ready and by the time the food was ready, it was almost 11.30 am. She had asked her family members to come to the library.
This library was her parents' library. There were medical books arranged on book shelves on two of the walls starting from the floor to the ceiling. One wall had shelves with books of great authors as well as biographies of important personalities. There were some novels too. The fourth wall had books that she was using and were on various stages of History. Not only of Russia but the whole world. There were books on Indology and on the subject that she had been doing her thesis on. She had placed the 7 books written by Dr Brain L Weiss on this part of the wall along with the book on the interpretation of dreams.
She headed towards the library and saw that no one had come down yet. There was a gong that her mother used to hit to call everyone in the family for meals. It was too much effort for her to go upstairs and downstairs all day. So her father had bought this huge gong that could be heard from all the corners of the house when it was rung. However, she decided not to use it at the moment but to ascend the stairs and call everyone personally to come down to the library to talk.
As she was ascending the stairs, she saw her Dada ji and Dadi ji descending the stairs followed by her Nani ji and her maternal uncle(Mamu ji).
"Let me help you?" She stopped and grabbed hold of her Dadi ji's hand and started to guide her to descend the stairs. Thereafter, she guided them all to the library.
"Lunch is almost ready, I just need to do the finishing touches. Let me know if 1 p.m. suits you? You would be tired after the long journey, you would want to rest."
"After lunch you all can rest for a few hours. Then I can take you around to show you a few places in Moscow."
"No child, We have come to see you, talk to you, to get to know you better. We would prefer spending the time here with you today and can do a Moscow tour with you tomorrow."
"I am sure your Nani ji and Mamu ji (Maternal Uncle) would agree with me," Her Dada ji immediately replied.
She ushered her relatives into the study and simultaneously said, "Please be seated.