Sunday, December 8

I have come to Balaramapuram to attend Archana and Anu’s house warming party. Their invitation had not seemed very specific about the location of their new house, but I need not have worried. They had advertised it on the main road in a way that you simply couldn’t miss.

They have had the house built for them on a plot of land next to Archana’s mother’s house. It throbbed with people of all ages, most of whom knew each other, since they formed one large extended family. Anu’s brother (a heart surgeon) explained this to me.

I stayed a couple of hours and on the way home we stopped at Sanu’s father’s brother’s house, which has an upstairs for rent that Sanu wanted me to see. Sanu’s father’s brother does not count as Sanu’s uncle because “not birth brother, cousin brother”.

Today’s theme: extended family.