I lived with my Ammuma, appupa, chitha (my mom younger sister) and with two mamas(my mom’s younger brothers) till I was three or 3.5 years old. Then my parents (aka Mr and Mrs. Nambiar) took me away from the favorite place on earth.
My ammuma house was located in a street having a Murugan temple at the end of the street. It resembled the miniature village scene from our “kolu” with two rows of houses with temple at the end of street. Ammuma and myself used to go to the Murugan temple frequently. She took me with her everywhere she went. My favorite one is the fish/veg market and the grocery store (Nadar kadai) where I got my favorite toffee - Kummercut.
My ammuma’s house had a porch with a cement chaise like the Victorian era ones. Every evening I used to lay there eagerly waiting for my chitha’s arrival from office. She worked in Madras secretariat at that time. Every day she got my evening snack wihtout fail- a bunch of Hyderabadi white grapes and packet of roasted peanuts . I merrily ate my snack sitting on the bench on the front porch while she sipped her evening coffee. Those days every family got milk from local milk vendors. Late evening the balance milk would be used for making curd and ammuma never stored milk overnight. My first mama(maternal uncle) who worked for commercial tax dept got my night time milk and Pachanadan pazham ( green banana) from a nearby tea-shop daily. Aavin milk booths mushroomed in Chennai in late seventies. Like milk/vegetable seller, the Krishna oil seller (Kerosene for the stove) came to every street to sell Krishna oil from his oil drum fitted on a tricycle. Ammuma's kitchen had kerosene stove and she used to get kerosene from the Krishna oil vendor regularly. On my first trip to grocery store in US , I was pleasantly surprised to see gallon size milk bottles in the dairy aisle.
After lunch we used to take a nap together. We had frequent power cuts in those days and my ammuma was my manual fan. I still remember asking her “ammuma vichiri vudu” non stop when the ceiling fans stopped rotating. There are certain special events which are carved forever in my memory. I can recollect my voice but don’t remember how I looked. My ammuma never had a huge dressing table mirror like the one in my house. She will fan me non-stop with the traditional ola visiri (traditional hand fan). She had all the patience that a world needed. I learnt the virtue of patience from her and from my chitha.
My ammuma came from a very wealthy family from Nagercoil . She was given good education and was proficient in English, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. She taught me to write family members name in English. I remember those times vividly. We used to have this checked patterns on the cement floor. I used to write family members name on the lines on the floor. I don’t know at what age she started teaching me alphabets but I was writing everybody’s name in English before three. My favorite was “Raman Pillai” my periamma’s husband name.
Later in my life , when I scored good marks in exams or successful in my career my extended family (aunts, uncles) used to talk about my ability write people’s name in english at a very early age. I felt very shy and even little annoyed when this story was shared with visitors because I never thought it was a big deal. Taking care of NR right from birth without any guidance, I appreciate and respect my ammuma’s parenting skills more. I am amazed at my ammuma’s teaching skills. I am not very successful in teaching anything to NR. I am not even able to take his bottle away. Believe me I have tried do that right from 12 months. NR has a mind of his own. He picks up traits just like that if he is interested otherwise he doesn’t want to do anything with it. And I am fine with it. I will lend my hand whenever he needs it. God sends us all to this earth with enough skills to live our own life. I have a strong faith that my son is blessed with his own skills.
And I also strongly feel that my ammuma is my/NR's guardian angel.
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