As me and Amma stay awake at night taking care of my baby girl, there are moments when laughter riots takes over lack of sleep and tiredness, we both talk of all the moments of my childhood and how pati and tata reacted to such moments.
The classic and standard dialogue of pati “Give her (me as a kid) to pattu mami (to adopt) as she cries so much” has been discussed and laughed for more than 100 times in last 3 months.
Our grandparents are not alive, today is tata’s 6th death anniversary and it’s been a year that pati also left all, but I shouldn’t put the word “LATE” as they are still alive in our memories and talks on daily basis.
I was reminded of all those funny and beautiful memories that they gave us in all these years.
• To start with will be, the peeping out from the running train to see where tata is as he has always come to pick us and drop us at the railway stations during the beginning and end of summer vacations. How can we forget the yummy tomato chutney, curd rice and chapptti’s pati would pack for the return journey, which would get over in few hours of time as against her planning of food for 3 days journey. We always used to say that you don’t need to come to pick or drop, but now I realise that he wanted that few extra hours with the daughters and granddaughters.
• He would always want us to reach few days before the actual start of our summer vacation on 1st May as it was their anniversary in the last week of April and pati will make special payasam for us all on that day. Their anniversary was a celebration only if the kids ( 8 grand children) would be around.
• Every year we would visit the fair in Coimbatore and that masala applams and tora tora rides were the memories. I don’t remember tata and pati on tora tora , but they sure will stand below waving to all of us as we would be screaming from top of the ride.
• Every morning we were woken up by the sound of radio of tata, followed by which would be the breakfast from Annapurna sewai and poori masala
• Those afternoon card games of all elders which we would keep watching as we knew at the end of the game, irrespective of whoever win or lose, we get ice cream treats.
• Tata would walk us all to ARUN ice cream place on the main road of sai baba colony and bharathi park once before the end of vacations for sure
• A palkaran (milkman) used to come every afternoon and there will be fight who will get up and give the chit as most of us would be sleeping or relaxing. After that pati will go out and start her gossip time with aunties in the apartment. When we would ask tata where is pati, he will smile and say “she has gone for the meeting” lol.
• Every evening, he would abscond for some time and return back with bun or bread and it used to be samosa if he would visit us in Delhi.
• We all got addicted to Chitti serial while watching them with tata and pati. Then we started watching them even after vacations were over or after they are back to their home after the Delhi visits.
• Tata had his briefcase on top of the almirah, which he would open almost every alternative day and check for the dates of his FDs ,RDs and what more probably even I don’t know. I see glimpse of that attitude now in my mom that she open all her online accounts in tab and keep a track of things.
• We still remember that early morning or evening cycling and walk with Tata to Koundam palyam to Chitti’s house, some of us would come in the TVS bike.
• Video game fights were the most memorable ones. Each one had to give the remote to next person when their game gets over. While playing tetris, some of our games would never end and other would go fighting and shouting. Still those laugh and fights echoes in our ears. What tata would do is, slowly go and switch off the mains and all of us would run to the main door where the main box was to fight with him forgetting internal fights.
• Another funny instance would be train ticket bookings. Those days there were no online concepts and one had to go and book manually. He would have already booked his return journeys while coming to Delhi . One fight between him and pati, or mom and pati or mom and dad or anyone in the family for that matter, next morning he will come back pre-booking his tickets. Later when it would time to go, pati will fight who asked you to change them. And they will start packing suitcases 5 days prior to their actual journey.
• The hogenakal visit which we all had gone when we were really young, probably under the age of 5 is still remembered by all of us. I also have memories of Haridwar and malabuya dam visits with tata and pati. Probably they have travelled to different places with different set of cousins and all of us remember and cherish those visits.
• Every evening he will wear shirt and weshti and he had a unique style of walking with his weshti. However for any flight journey or weddings he would always be in formals wearing shirt and pant. Flight journeys reminds that they both had travelled alone at the age of 85 and 75 to different locations and pati flew from Coimbatore to Bangalore a day before she died. They had so much love for all of us that, these journeys were not something which would make them feel tired but they were excited with the fact that they are going to meet another set of grandchildren while travelling from one place to another.
• We have no count of numbers of days pati would have made sambar and rasam for all us in her entire life, but she still enjoyed doing it and never got bored.
• Finally a year and half back when I met pati for the last time when she was alive, she said “now it’s time you have babies, me and your mom will take care of her”. Now when we get exhausted at times, I ask my mom how did she have the energy to handle 8 grandchildren and was ready to manage great-grandchildren also. Unfortunately she passed away few months before she could see them, but it is her blessing that there are two great grand children in the family now- Saishu and Vedu. At times I feel if there is something called as re-incarnation, there is no doubt that tata and pati has come back to all of us in the form of Vedanth (pati) and Saisha (Tata).
I do not remember any materialistic gifts that they gave to any of us, which they probably would have. But these are the moments which we still remember and I want to ensure that my daughter have such moments with my parents (now her grandparents) to be cherished forever. And it is a wonderful journey to see our parents getting transformed to grandparents and all cousins going to the next stage of life becoming periammas and chittis!
