Appointments

Don't be fooled by the title ... this blog is not about Doctor appointments ... it is about calling anyone for that matter and asking if the person is available ... be it even a casual visit.
My amma has sent me some stuff from India through a friend "V" . I had called in this friend and left a message with her as she wasn't at home at that. She returned my call and left a message with me, that I could come and collect it any evening. (thanks to this wonderful facility called "Voice Mail" which was alien to common man during my student days.... leading to a lot of misunderstandings / confusion) So I took her message a little to seriously and dropped by her place this evening. As luck would have it, she wasn't there .... I called up my sister and shared my frustration with her. She simply asked me "Did you call up before you went ... nobody goes to anyone else's place without calling.... do they?" . To this I started wondering, how it used to be back home in India.
A lot of my family members stay in Mysore. Before telephone became as much popular, each one of my uncles / aunts visited us without any notification and so did we. With the entry to telephones into the list of "must haves", we started occasionally calling and letting the other person know that we'd be coming. (note, we let the person know ... never asked). But when I moved to Bangalore, distance factor came into picture and driving to someone's place (without notification) only to find a locked house was very disappointing. Slowly I was introduced to the concept of taking appointment to visit the near and dear ones as well.
When I moved to the US, this became more prominent ... almost inevitable. Come to think of it, there are several positives of this habit:

1. The host is not taken by surprise with the visit. (read guest is spared from the un-welcome look)
2. Host is given ample time to clean up his / her place so it looks presentable
3. Host is given sufficient time to make arrangements for snack/ tea / coffee / lunch / dinner depending upon the time
4. Host is given a choice of coming up with a reason to escape the rendezvous
5. Guest / host can plan the rest of the day accordingly.

I think it is a good practice to let the host know if you plan to visit someone ... but I somehow miss those days of excitement of catching a near / dear one on my door by surprise !!