Every evening, mom waits for me to return from my walk to sit with her after a wash and change. Hearing her narration, many doubts have been cleared and am looking forward to more nuggets of information and here's another instalment:-
On her being the trouble shooter.
My mom has successfully donned the garb of the trouble shooter for both the families and I shall recount just three incidents to show how she carries out this role with an aplomb, even to this day.
* At the initial stages, Leela kunjamma did have some problems settling down at her husband's
place, what with her only sister-in-law just having returned from a long stint abroad and her
distraught parents were at their tether's end to break the impasse. It was then that my mom had
stepped in - without being asked, mind you - and trotted off a tough letter to my ma'asi's sister-in
-law, following it up with a personal tete-e-tete. The matter was amicably resolved.
* Varadamma appachi had fallen in love with the doctor next door. She knew that the relationship
would not pass muster of her parents because the good doc happened to be a divorcee. She took
help from her indulgent sister-in-law, who was convinced that the two should wed. She'd stood
guard for my 'bua' and her beau during their trysts and prevailed upon her parents to accept the
relationship.
* Her brother, Balagopal, had gotten into a financial mess while pursuing his passion of publication
of informative books and magazines and incurred heavy losses. It was mom again, who'd offered
her entire collection of gold jewellery - both my sisters were yet to get married and she'd carefully
built up the resources for the purpose, over a period of time - and seeing her, the other sisters too
had offered their's after the initial hesitation. That he'd returned the same in due course and my
mom had lost a bit in the transaction, the matter was resolved much to the relief of their parents!
And she was graceful in not cribbing about the negative transaction!!
On bringing up her children.
Stories abound in our house as to how strict she was about handling me as an infant. That I'd given her tough times at the time of birth has been talked about previously in this forum. Her insistence that I should only be viewed from far and not carried around was a diktat that was broken by a very few, only to face her wrath but everyone insists that it was her efforts that got me the 'Glaxo baby' title of '56! She rues the fact that she did not get much time for me as I was sent to a boarding school quite young. And I don't think that I can ever forget the lovely lullaby that she used to sing to lull me to sleep - the best thus far of this genre, from the Malayalam movie, Sita with the lyrics, "Paattupaadi urakkaam njaan thaamarappoompaithale, kettukettu nee urangen karalinte kaathale....."
My sisters were known in my dad's village as the girls who complemented each other in everything they did - from matching dresses, hairstyles and the aluminium boxes to carry their books to school to taking part in extracurricular activities. My mom would take great care in looking into the minutest aspects of their needs and I used to be privy to it during my school holidays!
She'd chosen our names to begin with the letter 'R'. But what the three of us remember are the 'pinches' that she used to lavish upon us when we made mistakes, especially while she taught us Maths!
........Another break, another day!
Tailpiece.
Adieu, MV Raghavan sir!
The firebrand communist leader, who was expelled from the party, in '86, for having espoused coalition with the other political parties like the Muslim League and the Kerala Congress to keep the Congress out of power passed into the mist of time this morning. He was 81.
I shall never forget his love and respect for PN Panicker that I was privy to, at the Delhi airport, on the cold wintry morning of 14 Dec '94.
My alarm had let me down but we're able to make it to the airport just as they're announcing the departure of his flight to Thiruvananthapuram. As I and my maman got my grandfather to move towards the innards of the airport, MVR - who was a minister then - came by, took the baggage from me saying, "Don't you worry. He's under my charge from now on, you may go back".
RIP, MV Raghavan sir! My salute, tears and prayers to a dynamic personality and a loving gentleman. Here's praying that your near and dear ones have the strength to tide over these difficult times.
On her being the trouble shooter.
My mom has successfully donned the garb of the trouble shooter for both the families and I shall recount just three incidents to show how she carries out this role with an aplomb, even to this day.
* At the initial stages, Leela kunjamma did have some problems settling down at her husband's
place, what with her only sister-in-law just having returned from a long stint abroad and her
distraught parents were at their tether's end to break the impasse. It was then that my mom had
stepped in - without being asked, mind you - and trotted off a tough letter to my ma'asi's sister-in
-law, following it up with a personal tete-e-tete. The matter was amicably resolved.
* Varadamma appachi had fallen in love with the doctor next door. She knew that the relationship
would not pass muster of her parents because the good doc happened to be a divorcee. She took
help from her indulgent sister-in-law, who was convinced that the two should wed. She'd stood
guard for my 'bua' and her beau during their trysts and prevailed upon her parents to accept the
relationship.
* Her brother, Balagopal, had gotten into a financial mess while pursuing his passion of publication
of informative books and magazines and incurred heavy losses. It was mom again, who'd offered
her entire collection of gold jewellery - both my sisters were yet to get married and she'd carefully
built up the resources for the purpose, over a period of time - and seeing her, the other sisters too
had offered their's after the initial hesitation. That he'd returned the same in due course and my
mom had lost a bit in the transaction, the matter was resolved much to the relief of their parents!
And she was graceful in not cribbing about the negative transaction!!
On bringing up her children.
Stories abound in our house as to how strict she was about handling me as an infant. That I'd given her tough times at the time of birth has been talked about previously in this forum. Her insistence that I should only be viewed from far and not carried around was a diktat that was broken by a very few, only to face her wrath but everyone insists that it was her efforts that got me the 'Glaxo baby' title of '56! She rues the fact that she did not get much time for me as I was sent to a boarding school quite young. And I don't think that I can ever forget the lovely lullaby that she used to sing to lull me to sleep - the best thus far of this genre, from the Malayalam movie, Sita with the lyrics, "Paattupaadi urakkaam njaan thaamarappoompaithale, kettukettu nee urangen karalinte kaathale....."
My sisters were known in my dad's village as the girls who complemented each other in everything they did - from matching dresses, hairstyles and the aluminium boxes to carry their books to school to taking part in extracurricular activities. My mom would take great care in looking into the minutest aspects of their needs and I used to be privy to it during my school holidays!
She'd chosen our names to begin with the letter 'R'. But what the three of us remember are the 'pinches' that she used to lavish upon us when we made mistakes, especially while she taught us Maths!
........Another break, another day!
Tailpiece.
Adieu, MV Raghavan sir!
The firebrand communist leader, who was expelled from the party, in '86, for having espoused coalition with the other political parties like the Muslim League and the Kerala Congress to keep the Congress out of power passed into the mist of time this morning. He was 81.
I shall never forget his love and respect for PN Panicker that I was privy to, at the Delhi airport, on the cold wintry morning of 14 Dec '94.
My alarm had let me down but we're able to make it to the airport just as they're announcing the departure of his flight to Thiruvananthapuram. As I and my maman got my grandfather to move towards the innards of the airport, MVR - who was a minister then - came by, took the baggage from me saying, "Don't you worry. He's under my charge from now on, you may go back".
RIP, MV Raghavan sir! My salute, tears and prayers to a dynamic personality and a loving gentleman. Here's praying that your near and dear ones have the strength to tide over these difficult times.
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