It was a dull Friday evening and I was feeling sort of restless in my
cozy abode. It was about the time that I got some change. With some lazy
efforts I stretched my legs and then hands. I heard my mother scream and I
think I winked, with a lot of effort and terrific pain; she pushed me into this
world. It was about 9 in the night when my mother was toiling in the labor room
while rest of my family was watching chitrahar on doordarshan. That episode
ended with a brand new song from the movie Mr. India called Hawa Hawaii, the
lyrics were, “bijli girane mein hoon aai, kehte hai mujh ko, hawa hawaii”. At
that point they were not aware that they were being warned against the future
dangers, happily swaying to the song they welcomed me in their world.
I had quiet an adventurous childhood. I was Sinbad the sailor and my
granny was my genie. Together we conquered many lands. For a major part of
infanthood I could not speak. I started talking not before I turned two. Till
then I would mime and she would fulfill all my needs. She was the one who introduced
me to the world around. Holding me in her arms, she took me everywhere she
would go.
My granny married at a tender age of 18. She was 10 years younger to my
grandpa. Post her marriage she shifted to Ahmedabad with my dada.
Starting her family from a small room in the walled city, she struggled her way
out to the newly developed society near the banks of Sabarmati River in
Shahpur. She herself was not very educated, yet she saw to it that all her
children made good career in their respective fields. My dad says that she was
fond of reading fiction; she was so passionate about reading that while
sweeping through the house, if she would come across a novel, she would put the
broom by her side and start reading it. Nothing was dearer to her than her
books.
Soon after my birth, she was paralyzed. Yet our adventurous went on. We
devoured into the devilish pleasures of sheepishly eating yummy junk food
without letting anyone know. She was diabetic but loved ice-creams. She would
ask my mom to serve her ice-cream in cup and would wait until it would turn
into milk. Post that she would just drink the ‘thick-shake’ saying ice-cream is
not permitted, but milk is!
She died when I was in 7th std. A lot of my habits are
cultivated by her. Be it reading or slyly eating stuff out of fridge or just
plainly making a good story and escaping a nasty scolding or just enjoying the
life the way it comes. She was truly my rockstar!
