Unwelcome guests

My vacations were about to end. Two weeks were left, and I had planned to spend this time, relaxing and staying at home. Throughout the vacations, I was busy as I was continuously going out with friends and doing short courses offered during summers. Now in the last few days, I wanted to get ready for school and get some rest. I was lying on my bed, reading Harry Potter, when the phone bell rang. My mom picked it up and cheerfully chatted: ‘Haan you are always welcome, and we are at home, OK looking forward to see you’.

When she ended her conversation, I enquired: ‘Ami who is coming?’ I was under the impression that mom had invited my aunt or cousins for dinner at home, but she almost dropped a bombshell on me when she told me that our relatives from Dera Ismail Khan were coming to Karachi, and would stay at our home for a week.

‘Oh no Mom, you can’t so this,’ I moaned

‘Ssshh don’t say this, they are our relatives,’ my mom scolded me. ‘And be nice to them,’ she warned.

They were my far off aunt and uncle, with the naughtiest and most troublesome kids!

So the next day, I went to receive them from the railway station. As usual the train didn’t arrive on the scheduled time, and I had to wait for the party from Dera Ismail Khan in the scorching summer heat. And when the train finally arrived, a sea of people appeared and I had to scan each and every face for my relatives, and trust me I had no clue how they looked like. I had seen them when I was in Class 1, and hence the only thing I remember about my uncle was that he was huge, with an unkempt beard and bulging eyes. My mom further enriched my general knowledge about the family by telling me that they had four kids. Well with this meagre information, I managed to spot our guests in an hour, sitting on a bench having refreshments. I was already scared by the number of suitcases they carried with them. It looked like they were planning to settle in Karachi.

Trying to look happy and with a forceful smile, I greeted them. My uncle hugged me so tightly that for a minute, I thought I couldn’t breathe. And my aunt couldn’t stop asking about the well being of every relative, alive and dead. She also couldn’t believe how much I had grown, since she last saw me. And their four brats made me promise to take them to all the eateries and recreational places they had ever heard of.

I was boiling with anger when I reached home. I had to bear not only the constant bickering of the kids and the loud laughter of my uncle, but also the strange glances of passers-by. The family was not accustomed to the lifestyle of Karachi, the kids pointed out directly at different people. Not only this, even my uncle pointed excitedly at a man in his car working on his laptop. I was totally embarrassed. My aunt dressed in hot pink silk shalwar suit, adorned with gold jewellery from head to toe, was surprised to see girls in jeans and sleeveless clothes and condemned young girls dressing like that.

Well, when we finally reached home, I sighed with relief. Now, I thought, I, could sleep in my room and these people wouldn’t disturb me there. But to my utmost disappointment my mom had given Uncle and Aunt my room. I was supposed to sleep with the four pests in the drawing room.

Well what happened afterwards, all of you must have guessed. The kids drove me crazy with their incessant demands, every niche and corner of the house was occupied by guests pouring in to meet this family from Dera Ismail Khan and obviously my plans for a peaceful, relaxing week never saw the light of day.