You see, my mom relies on me for entertainment a lot.
I mean that in the most literal sense anyone can mean that in. My birth meant that my mother was gifted not only with a baby son, but a device she could use for her own entertainment however she desired. To some parents, children are sociological experiments. To some parents, children carry the burden of their expectations. To my mother, I was better than any film she had ever watched, because she had the opportunity to Produce, Direct, Guest Star, and Promote me.
Basically, she did whatever she felt would result in the greatest entertainment value. Think of me as a TV show now. My mother, as a Director, ensured that I would receive the highest possible IMdB rating imaginable. There would be no Rotten Tomatoes, only nice Ripe ones. For example, my mother wanted music: therefore I learnt the piano. My mother wanted someone to fight with (she argued with her sister a lot back in the day, playful stuff): I became a lawyer. My mother wanted comic relief: therefore I fell down on my butt while trying to sit on a chair. My mother had demands that I fulfilled. I used to get irritated easily with her antics – like her tickling. That meant that it had the most entertainment value for her.
I’ve learnt a lot of stuff just because she sat opposite me and asked me questions. Or engaged in conversation and wanted entertainment at the end of it. It’s been good fun.
Aside from this, she relies on me for traditional entertainment a lot too. I’m often the reason she binge-watches shows, or speed-reads a book. She trusts my recommendations and often ends up finishing shows before me, which is saying something. I trust her recommendations too, which is why I do pretty much what she says (except watching WhatsApp forward videos), because they’re pretty exciting.
Whenever I come to town, we do two things together. Binge-watch a show, and watch a movie in a theatre. We’ve even been the only two in an entire theatre hall once.
Today we ticked off one of those boxes by watching Modern Family after lunch while sitting on the sofa.
Time to tick off the other one, Amma.
Tejas Rao 