Skip to main content

Being memsaab

When Bhaskar left the Air Force what I missed was being called "memsaab" by the domestic help- most colonial, most inappropriate but sigh !!
Coming to the civilian life was getting used to being called "boudi", "kakima" and a rare "Didi".
When Baba first went to leave me at my own first "home" in Pune, he was greeted by Kaushalya - our live in domestic help. She actually taught me how to cook, keeping a vigil as I graduated from lighting a stove to gas- learnt to boil milk and use a cooker. The story that became a legend was when I cooked Chingri Malaikari straight out of a Lila Majumdar recipe book, and the page turned and I ended up grinding three times mustard than required ...Bhaskar cried buckets and my pet cat ran away for days after tasting that "eye watering" delicacy.
When Baba was leaving his instructions to Kaushalya was "Baby ka khyal rakhna" ....Kaushalya being used to the fauji culture looked here and there wondering who the "baby" was , till she realized that the "baby" being referred to was none other than me...the 'naya memsaab'!
This morning as Baba rocked like a baby , I reminded him of this story ...how the baby has changed.....how he is the baby now who needs to grow up, be on his feet again and learn to walk to his freedom....again.
Ah life! Never ceases to throw challenges..."The child is the father of man" and then the father becomes a child again...and for me being a mother has just doubled up!

Comments

  1. Abhishikta29 December 2014 at 10:03

    Ah! Such a 'you' wala post! Welcome to optimism :*
    All shall be well :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. amrita29 December 2014 at 10:21

      yes...tomorrow will be better than today .

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A holiday with self :)

A long overdue blog about the path that I was seeking , or did the path seek me out ? Over the years the sheen of belief was wearing off and I was beginning to question the master about the magic - about faith becoming commercial, about what Bhaskar stated, "This is all about money".  Packing my bags off and going solo isn't very uncommon in my life, but this time I was not on work per se. Checking-in into the Ashram, was on my bucket-list for ever-since, and it was an amazing experience. Despite the crowd, the ambiance just reverberated with a mix of reverence, energy , faith, hope, prayer - and questions too ! Like I mentioned before meditation was not about spiritual pyrotechnics, but a metaphor connected to life. Like the corner I chose had a vantage view of the stage and despite a stench that started emanating from the corner, I just could not leave that place, for the view that corner offered got me stuck there. Life is like that, we are often stuck in the rut , ...
14 comments
Read more

Morning bells are ringing ......

Heidi lived in Alps with her Alms uncle - I read this story in a book that was called The Big Big Story Book and it had a compilation of amazing stories that were my first foray into the world of English story books. Recently on a long flight I watched the movie much to delight of the young steward who was our attendant that night. My first glimpse of the Alps was from our flight ...the dawn breaking to spread the orange hues over the snowy terrain...looked mesmerizing even to someone who is not too fond of the mountains. Switzerland was beautiful, with its manicured terrain and flowers like pretty maids all in a row, picture perfect setting and breathtaking, like a touch me not porcelain beauty. Coming from my "elo melo" city I wondered how people managed to keep a country so organized , I have trouble keeping my room in ship shape...... No, I would not like to live there ......it's too distant and too cold ,but what I will carry in my heart is  the awesome time .......
10 comments
Read more

Chariots and moon :)

I was wondering  if little children pull the  rath still.... But I noticed my Facebook  timeline having quite a few pictures of smiling faces with their bedecked little chariots, much to my delight. In this digital chaos , somewhere these simple customs are lost , like a friend lamented this morning. Our parents bought us this crude do-tala rath and we decked it up with ghuri r kagoj and made The Trio sit in the prime position as we pulled the contraption from one room to the other offering the papad, math mishti and batasha ......The contraption rested for a week when the ritual was repeated on the ulto-rath day. And then there was also the Rath-er Mela , with it's stalls full of trinkets and baubles and bhepu banshi. Strangely, we also had a film magazine which was called "Ulto -Rath" and which was out of bounds for us as kids, thus building up on the curiosity quotient. The magazine honestly, wasn't much really, a few stories, gossips and black and white...
7 comments
Read more