UNWELCOME GUESTS

          Guests are always welcome in an Indian household. We believe in the ancient dictum of atithi devo bhava, a guest is god. We, therefore, try to make our guests welcome whenever they visit us. We look after their needs and entertain them lavishly if they visit us after prior information. But there are times when guests visit us without notice and thrust their presence on us for longer than is unnecessary. Such uninvited guests are always unwelcome.

          We had a similar experience last weekend when we are all set to leave town. We had decided to spend the day at a picnic spot and had made all the preparations. Suddenly, the door-bell rang and I saw half-a-dozen grinning faces forcing their way into the lobby. Since I did not recognize them, I was surprised to see them carrying their heavy baggage. The oldest of them asked me to call my father.

          My father could not recognize them also. He was told that they had come from his ancestral village to visit Delhi and that it was my father’s duty to take them round during the weekend. All our plans for an enjoyable weekend turned to dust.

          The unwelcome and uninvited guests soon made themselves comfortable in the house. They handed over to my mother an elaborate menu of what they would like to eat and drink during their stay with us. Forced to cancel our plans, we took around Delhi during the weekend cursing them in our heart all the time. But somehow they stretched their stay and were all over for the next week. Politely but firmly, my father asked them to make their own arrangements for visiting Agra and Jaipur as he would not get any leave from his leave from his office.

         These guests proved to be a great inconvenience to the entire family and our schedule went haywire. They would occupy the bathroom and the toilet for a long time in the morning. As a result, we were late for school. We could not do our homework in time as they insisted on watching all the television programs till late in the night. My mother could not cope with their unreasonable and untimely demands for food at odd hours.

         We were all happy and relieved when they announced at the end of their prolonged stay with us that they wanted to leave by the night train the next day. My mother prepared dinner and snacks to last them their six-hour train journey and we went to the railway station to bid them goodbye. Even though they did not appear very happy or satisfied with our hospitality, they said they would visit us again at the next available opportunity. That opportunity has not, thankfully, arisen so far.