We'd - mom, my two sisters and me - set off by 9, in the morning, to wrap up the pending work at the bank and the post office which had been painstakingly brought to this stage by my younger sister over the past few weeks. I do admire her patience because the official procedures - at times, seemingly unreasonable but I suppose, a requisite to thwart frauds - can upset even the stouthearted! To make matters worse, there was this lady at the particular desk who was obnoxious, to say the least and who'd to be firmly reminded that she was getting paid to provide hassle free service to each and every customer.
Earlier, as mom was being escorted back to our car from the premises of the post office, I was reminded of having gone through a similar exercise with dad, a few years back. His slow gait and the way he negotiated the flight of steps was now being replicated by mom(I remember that she was springy and quick, then). I could only be a helpless bystander to this disturbing transition of life, caused by time!
Her statement, as she got into the car, was equally disturbing and did it have an ominous note? I quote, "My association with the postal department began when I was 27 and today, I'm bidding my final bye". Fifty long years, she's touching 77!
She'd started as a teacher in the same school where I was and I used to dread when my class teachers took me to her for my lapses - which was all too frequent like fighting with other kids especially the girls to being inattentive in class or even making noise and disobeying the class monitor! It was after her stint as a teacher, that she'd taken up the job of the 'Branch Post Mistress' in the nearby post office while willingly surrendering her promotion prospects to facilitate her children's education!! Her statement bidding her farewell, therefore, brought a lump in my throat.
She's promised to be with us for the whole of next month, after a lot of persuasion. It's her common refrain these days when she says that she doesn't want to leave dad all to himself!
I'd be making another trip on the 30th, to fetch the three of them, when my niece finishes her exams.
Just before I took off back to Kochi, she handed me a cheque, in a neat white envelope, asking me to deposit it into my account at the earliest! ........What do I say? After all, mom is mom!!
Earlier, as mom was being escorted back to our car from the premises of the post office, I was reminded of having gone through a similar exercise with dad, a few years back. His slow gait and the way he negotiated the flight of steps was now being replicated by mom(I remember that she was springy and quick, then). I could only be a helpless bystander to this disturbing transition of life, caused by time!
Her statement, as she got into the car, was equally disturbing and did it have an ominous note? I quote, "My association with the postal department began when I was 27 and today, I'm bidding my final bye". Fifty long years, she's touching 77!
She'd started as a teacher in the same school where I was and I used to dread when my class teachers took me to her for my lapses - which was all too frequent like fighting with other kids especially the girls to being inattentive in class or even making noise and disobeying the class monitor! It was after her stint as a teacher, that she'd taken up the job of the 'Branch Post Mistress' in the nearby post office while willingly surrendering her promotion prospects to facilitate her children's education!! Her statement bidding her farewell, therefore, brought a lump in my throat.
She's promised to be with us for the whole of next month, after a lot of persuasion. It's her common refrain these days when she says that she doesn't want to leave dad all to himself!
I'd be making another trip on the 30th, to fetch the three of them, when my niece finishes her exams.
Just before I took off back to Kochi, she handed me a cheque, in a neat white envelope, asking me to deposit it into my account at the earliest! ........What do I say? After all, mom is mom!!
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