Personal what?

Personal spaces: Eh, what?

So, on Vijayadasami Day, I found myself screaming across the grill gate to the old woman next door, “No, I haven’t seen a doctor yet.” My nephew, Govind’s balloon became the starting point for a conversation that took me by surprise, but apparently it is quite common.

Anyway, to back up, Govind, my nephew, was playing with a balloon, and it fell over the fence to the next house. I went up to the gate and called out for permission, and the lady of the house (I think) said I could take it. Before I could move, an 80-plus old lady came out, and seemed happy to see me. I hadn’t seen this woman before, only heard her in general ambient sounds drifting into our house. She thought I was Govind’s mom, and after I clarified I was not (she was hard of hearing, so I had to shout too) she said, “oh, you are the second daughter-in-law. So how long have you been married?” I had to shout, “Four.” No sense complicating with months.

She immediately looked disappointed. “No kids yet?”

“No.” (Screaming at this point)

“Why?”

Not quite sure how to answer this, really. Should I be telling this woman anything about my life? I shrugged.

“Did you get yourself checked?”

Which was the statement I was totally unprepared for, but wasn’t exactly astounded by. I saw the old woman, and realized, “This is India yaar.”

I quickly promised her I would have a child as a ”humanly” p, and then she went on tangent about her accident, and about my mother-in-law’s stroke. “She would have died, you know,” said the old paati, as if we were unaware of it. Her words were quite dramatic, as if my mother-in-law was on her way to heaven and was brought back by some stroke of luck. Turned out she was a close friend of my mother-in-law’s mother; that was her claim to closeness.

After her, the local ironing lady asked me the same question too. “Nothing?” she asked matter-of-factly, tracing out a bump in her belly. I said, “If I keep eating like I do now, I’m sure I’ll get one.”

She didn’t seem to get it. Well, goodbye space. Hello, world; welcome to our bedroom!