IT parents

Around 10 days back I was travelling from Tirunelveli to Bangalore in train with my mom and my son. When i was boarding the train itself one of my chappals fell into the track, so i was in a bad mood. My son being a small kid was playing around here and there. There were only 2 others in the compartment other than us.

My son threw a toy while he was playing near one of them. The person took it and gave it to me and asked me where we are going. I replied "Bangalore". The conversation started like this. It went on for a while. i came to know that he is a IT guy who works in Bangalore.His wife is also a working lady. He has a son 2+ years old. He asked my mom " Are you going to Bangalore to take care of your grandson?".My mom happily replied "yes".

He said initially his mom in law was with them when their kid was born and she stayed with them for one year. He was saying what all she went through when she was there alone in Bangalore with the kid.I started correlating that with my mom. Tirunelveli , even though its not a village its definitely not a city like bangalore. We used to know people staying nearby, relatives visit often, no traffic jams like Bangalore, everyone speaks in Tamil, climate is hot, pollution free compared to Bangalore, as a whole a calm and peaceful place.

He said his son used to be very naughty and his mom in law couldn't take him outside also , as she is not comfortable with the place. So when they used to come back from office their house used to look like a war field and the mom in law used to be the person who lost the battle.I personally understood how difficult child care is after i had a son. And that too for old age people its really difficult. The mom in law finally said she couldn't stay there and took the kid with her to hometown as the parents couldn't take care of him. He was returning to Bangalore after seeing his son in the weekend.

My mom was upset. I know what all she started thinking. I always feel that in old age parents should not leave one another and they should live together. But nowadays people like us usually call the parents to take care of the kids. Fathers have to suffer alone.

I left my job to take care of my kid , because i know how difficult it can be for parents who work in IT field to take care of kids. I always wonder this fact in US.Because there , what ever be it , people work from 8 30 till 5 30 and spend lots of time for personal life. Kids stay in day care , and as the laws are strict there, we can be confident about the day care centers. But here.........

I am waiting for the day when IT field will spread its wings to places like tirunelveli so that everyone can live happily. I always have the nostalgic feeling to stay in my hometown and i think everyone has it too.