This is more of an opportunity for me to offload my problems and possibly find someone to relate to me…
I recently got back after a year away abroad studying in Japan from home to only come back to about a million guests at my house. Now I have a very big family (my immediate is 4), so having guests quite often is pretty normal. But this time around, one of my chachus is having his house re-done. And in typical pakistani kangoos fashion, his freshy wife decided to pack up and invite herself and the family to live at our (my parents) house for the next 6 months. (Please keep in mind her 2 young sons are the most butameez kids i’ve ever met and i am a teacher). Now my uncle actually has 2 kids from a previous marriage who come and go as they please too.
Now my other chachus come to stay from Pakistan (i live in the UK) with her wife for 3 weeks. And his son and his wife are coming for 2 weeks too. On top of this, my uncles are the most irratating men, constantly complaining and commenting where they are not wanted. I and my parents are going crazy. So in total we have 10 people living in one house and for now the extra 4 other guests. But i swear those 2 kids count as 15 b/c so damn butameez.
I dont understand why my parents just dont say NO.
This happens when we have relatives over. They are at first ok and we'll behaved, but there is so many of them that we have a problem with just the sheer number of people in the home. We have a total of 2 toilets and honestly not the most updated technology so 10 people in one house pretty much tires out the toilets. They're pretty mean to my dad. Last time they came they insulted my father for having outdated tiles and wallpaper in his home. They also wrecked our toilet and then wanted my dad to unclog it. As they have maasis in their home in Pakistan, no one knows how to clean a tub so me and my sister did routine bathroom cleaning.
I know we complain but when we go to Pakistan with our mother they tolerate us in their home. I remember when I was a kid and broke a glass drinking milk in their kitchen and I remember taking over their TV pissing off my uncle who is also a TV addict.
I guess bottom line is that appreciate family and help each other out. You might have to take up some nakhray and drama but having family around is a blessing. You just don't know till you're alone.
Benjamin Franklin got it absolutely right when he said more than 200 years ago that “guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”
Of course, don’t expect desis to get the memo any time soon.
OP, they are “family” so it would be considered highly impertinent of you to suggest to the guests that they are overstaying their welcome. However, don’t feel obligated to give them company all the time or go the extra mile to be ‘hospitable’ to them. That holds especially true for the younger cousins. They don’t need to be mollycoddled; it’s alright to be a little firm if they are getting on your nerves and are not letting you rest or concentrate on any assignment from work.
