"8 O clock, Shanti ammaa..? "
She looks at me, smiles and says something in tamil, which she knows I will not understand.
As I always do after I get back home, I put on the Geyser and move to the kitchen to brew some tea.
"You want some? , I ask her , To which she answers "Swalpaa kooro", meaning get me some .
As I shirk off the cups, I notice my favorite cup broken, and I ask her - How did it get broken .She pulls on the drawer and shows me how it got stuck, as she was pushing it off ,and got broken .its broken a voice in me tells me , and I say , "problem beda" , meaning no problem .
The tea is close to brewing and I am sieving her, she asks me for a chapatti (Indian bread). My first instinct is to make her a Maggi, coz that's what I would have made myself when I am very tired. But something in me tells me to stop being mean, and make her a chapatti . There is no vegetable sabji so I get her some amla pickle and pudina chatni (Indian sauce).
As I am making the first one , the power goes off, and I make both the chapattis in the dark .I am bad at making chapatti’s by the way, so this is probably my excuse to not take charge !
She smiles as I capture her, saying the light isn't enough. Somehow she always get really exited when I shoot her .
See her live in action as she helps with cockroaches here .
As she is sitting in the balcony next to my kitchen on the broken chair ,suddenly seeing her I remember my Mom, and all the time she used to feed me as I used to stand next to her in the kitchen . Most of these times, I never understood when she used to make me that extra chapatti
with the dough, which she would have had herself, and she is tired enough not to kneed the dough again, and goes on to bed with a half empty stomach. Only much later I realized to trick her by finishing the last chapatti and then asking her for me, thus "forcing" her to kneed more floor .
My sister on the other hand, was much more subtle. As I was preparing for my IIT entrance exams she used to get up in the middle of the night and make me tea and get em a little to eat.
When I was back from the classes, she used to make me food, and so was it for the evenings, till Mom got back from work. My sister in that way was my second Mom.
This wonderful lady, my maid , enables that I put my best each day learning new things and understanding the world of Mathematics and Sciences .She enables me to do more , be more.
Life is too short to complain, about broken cups, about maid asking you to cook something for her, when you are tired enough not to make one for yourself, about the cold water that you would have to take bath with , because there's no power.
Three wonderful women - My Mom, My Sister and My maid- here's a note of thanks , for I wouldn’t have been what I am today.
