I do not understand whether it's the patriarchy or the long sedimented indifference in having their needs catered to that plagues the generation that birthed us.
I see my mother in law serving food to her husband who only pops out of his room to either watch tv or eat his meals.
She asks every couple minutes what else he'd like and he tells her what needs be served.
Bring me water he'll say as a matter of fact and the slow walking woman behind thick goggles as a result of cataract surgery hearkens.
She drags her feet unhurriedly and brings back a glass of water, a bowl of curry, casserole of rice because food hasn't been set and served on table seeing how it's not yet lunch time but her husband wanted to eat and so he did.
What bothers me most is that he takes it for granted that the moment he will set himself on the dining chair it will become his wife's or his daughter in law's duty to immediately begin asking him if he's hungry and start serving him food and that is exactly what happens because that's just how it is and it's not his job to venture into the kitchen and serve himself. No, not at all. It's everyone else's job to see that he is fed!
And once lunch is done he pushes back his chair and walks back into his room or in front of the tv.
The dishes will be cleared by whomsoever wants to clear them because keeping dishes in the sink is so next century.
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