top of page
Search

Episode 53: India Forever

Writer's picture: Kristin LindstromKristin Lindstrom

Eddie comes home from India at the end of the summer of 1966. Like the others, he stops in European capitals along the way. He has a present for me from Paris!

He hands me a large, flat box beautifully wrapped in red paper. Mom and John are sitting at the kitchen table drinking extra dry vodka martinis on the rocks with a twist. I rip off the paper and discover a box of chocolates all shaped like bottles. I pull off the top, pick a chocolate, pull off the foil and bite into it.




Ack!” I gasp as I sprint to the bathroom sink, spitting out the filling, which is pure alcohol. It seems Eddie has bought this at a duty-free shop in the airport and didn’t realize ALL the little bottles are filled with various liqueurs.

Eddie and my parents don’t think twice before digging into the chocolates.

My disappointment is monumental.

Tyler and Jake return from India at the end of a year. Tyler brings me a purple suede belt with a big brass-colored buckle from Carnaby Street in London. I’m intrigued by a bag full of polished semi-precious gems Jake has brought home, but none of them are for me. He also brings me a mother of pearl letter opener with the seal of Paris on the hilt.

They are intolerable upon their return. They mimic the Indian servants who talk with a combination of a local patois and Pidgeon English. They use this ‘language’ all the time with each other.

“Ha ji-”

“Oh, bery, bery bad, I say!”

It is extremely irritating. Fifty years later, they still use it from time to time.

I don’t dare buy anything from India. “What? You paid a quarter for that? I could have gotten it for three cents in Delhi.”

Yeah, well, one of us didn’t get to Delhi, did she?


Soon Mom receives a letter from Dad. He and Mary want Tyler for another year. He seems to want to go back. Jake does not. So, Tyler is off for another adventure.

At the end of his second year, Dad and Mary write yet another letter announcing they want to keep Tyler forever. Mom gets on Western Union—a favorite communications tool for her (Richard Nixon must have had a box full of Mom’s missives telling him to resign) and sends a telegram telling them in no uncertain terms to put him on the next flight. I don’t know whether they argue back and forth about this, but soon, Tyler is back. After all, Mom has full custody.

Eventually, Dad and Mary return to Arlington, Virginia. And I find India never truly goes away. For years, whenever we gather at Dad’s house, all the others talk about is their shared experiences there. Clearly, I am left out of a club I can never join, and it hurts.

Although Dad is now within physical reach, he remains as distant as if he was still in India. Emotionally, he can’t reach out to us. I discover that in spite of all the extra time they have spent with Dad, all of my brothers feel this distance and suffer the hurt of it.

Somehow, we hear that Dad has been in Washington several times for work while living abroad without contacting any of us. It’s a low blow. Out of four children, he only makes one college graduation and one wedding. Mine. He just happens to be living here at the time. The U.S. government would pay for him to return for all these events, but he just doesn’t make the effort.

17 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page