Velyamachi: My Gutsy Grandma - 2
I want to add a short footnote to the story of my courageous Grandma.
On my few childhood visits to Kerala a big event was my Kerala-halwa making session with Velyamachi. Inevitably, on the day before we left Velyamachi would ask me to help her. I would sit beside her on a low stool and my job was to go on stirring the halwa batter with a long ladle. I was of course delighted. Adding to the delight was the smell of the halwa and the fun of sampling it every few minutes to test the taste.
And her visit to Bombay was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Every bit of it must have astonished her. She had never traveled in a train before. The long rail journey! The stations! The views! The strangely-dressed new passengers, talking in languages she didn't understand, who came in as the train crossed other states. And in Bombay the amazing streets and multistorey buildings! Indeed, everything!
My memories of her - my brave Grandma - have not faded away.
*
Dreams of One Country, Ms Jagjit's MovieScopic India Novel. The book
my wife Jagjit and I worked on together is now available for Print
Copy delivery worldwide by Amazon - apart from e-download. Dreams is a story, set in the midst of national upheavals, on India's transformation: of the country's thrilling ascent to join the world's most progressive nations.
***
No comments:
Post a Comment