August 22, 2022

Memories

 


Today was a day for lazing in the morning. Akka took the responsibility of cooking breakfast. Niha made me adrak wali chai. Afternoon it was eat out at the Garuda Mall/ swiggy company's birthday bash. We are even featured in their insta stories 😀😀

Hence i thought i will update my blog.

A couple months ago i watched a movie about a 4/5 year old gone missing and they found the body between a space in the bed. The police, detectives, private eye nor the sniffer dog could locate the child.

There were various theories like the child has been murdered elsewhere, and the body is planted after the police work, the child died accidentally, the child was totally rolled in the bedsheet when she fell , hence nobody got a decaying smell...etc etc

Felt very bad. At the same time i remembered something. I must have blogged about in kannada, not sure though..hence recounting my memory.

It was in belthangady ( dakshin kannada dist) where my husband was posted from his bank. We did.not have much household stuff then. So me, srikanth and tiny tot Malavika travelled on the goods vehicle from Koppa (chikmagalur dist) to belthangady. We did.not know a soul there. After an early breakfast we left and reached belthangady by noon time. We ate at a restaurant. I was pregnant with second child.  Something did not agree with 10 month old baby and she had severe case of diahrrea. 

The house we rented was old and huge. But not a drop of water. Had to fetch the water for the entire household activity from a well nearby. That is the only thing i remember about my stay at belthangady. Waking up early, cooking breakfast and lunch before Malavika would wake up. Then entire day draw water from the well. Most times Srikanth's office colleagues would be invited for lunch...or else relations wanting to visit dharmasthala, since Srikanth had close contacts/quick visit access to manjunatha temple. 

I did not mind cooking then..but fetching water tired me out...i had applied for a Masters course via Bombay University distance education. I hardly found time to study. I was a frail lady..who needed to fetch 40 to 50 vessels (ಕೊಡ) of water...funnily i now think why did not I ask for household help? To enter the house we had climb two really wide steps. I would oil massage malavika and make her sit on the step so the early morning sun light would be helpful to her growth. 

I always told her 'babu sit here quietly.. Don't move..if u fall u will be hurt...and she always obeyed me, my poor baby.

But on that one day after fetching water i could not find her. I was alarmed for a bit and searched every nook and the corner inside the house and the outside space. It was a huge compound with 5 independent houses situated in lush greenery, which of course i did not have time to enjoy. I even with trepidation in my heart  went and peeped into the well..though it was not possible for her to escape  my eyes. I wept a little. There were no landline at home let alone cell phone..we really have made leaps and bounds as far as technology is concerned. 

Then i closed my eyes and took deep breaths trying to calm myself. I thought i heard a faint sound of breathing. I waited for a while and again heard the sound of breathing. Went to the bedroom and stood with my own breath stilled. Now i could hear strong sound of breathing..and following the sound i found her in the tiny space behind my clothes horse...i pulled her out and held her very tight. She was/is a very smart kid. 

At 11 months she recited all the alphabets, days of the week, months in a year. I got to cuddle and kiss and hug only when i was travelling to mumbai by bus. I had to travel to mangaluru and take bus to mumbai from there, 24 hour journey, mostly never on time, no way to let our family know where we were...(once our bus fell into a ditch and we had to stay overnight in a tiny maharashtrian village..with kind hearted people)...we spent time singing rhymes, playing games etc..

This is the breakfast she made today ❤️👍👌

Just sharing like always 😀😀

ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟಿನ ಉಕ್ಕರಿಸಿದ ರೊಟ್ಟಿ ಮತ್ತು ಅಣಬೆ ಮಸಾಲೆ








August 3, 2022

ಪಾತ್ತೋಳಿ & birthday


  A chocolate cake i baked and decorated for malavika's birthday

Whenever i make patholi ಅರಸಿನ ಎಲೆ ಕಡುಬು, i remember the day i had made 90 patholis and 75 kotte kadubu ಹಲಸಿನ ಎಲೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟೆ ಕಡುಬು for srikanth's office party when he was in Koppa branch.

I made it all single handed..with no help. Malavika was about 10 months old and just learning to stand. I put her in her walker and did all the grinding work manually. I had to grind udad dal three times. I had/still have with me a huge grinding stone. Malavika was a no tantrum baby..very quiet. So i could do it. Had to grind chutney 3 times...grate lots of coconut both for chutney as well as the stuffing for patholis. Only help i had was for house cleaning and  washing clothes by bayamma. Bayamma was christian konkani but she spoke GSB konkani so well that my daughter learned our mother tongue through her. I was a 21 year old with yet to complete my graduation studies and exam. So once my house work was finished i sat and studied, while bayamma kept up a prattle with Malavika.

Today is her birthday. Love my girl. Not only that she is the apple of the eye of entire family.

When i was pregnant and almost near my due date, i remember sitting on the ground, leaning on the wooden diwan, very tired. My dad was seriously ill and in hospital. Amma was tired...going to and fro to the hospital on the bus. Our finances were very low and i was sad that i too was a burden on them. The delivery of the first child is  always considered the responsibility of the mayka...mothers place...

Amma seeing me sad , sat besides me and tenderly touching and caressing my tummy said'come soon babu, if possible tomorrow for it is my birthday....my brother who had just come from a job hunt says, no come on the 12th it is my birthday. Somehow the contraction started at night. I went to wake up my mom..but she was in a deep sleep after a very tiring day so i did not have the heart to wake her up...meanwhile several people in the building had offered to take us to the hospital in their vehicle when the time came for my delivery. Amma woke up at 4 and i told her of the pain. Since there were still many a days to due date...amma first gave me hot water with butter and cumin added to it to check if it was just pain due to gastric trouble Contractions got more constant. Amma asked whether i could walk to the hospital, i said yes, i can manage. It was only 15 minutes away on a shorter route from our building. Akka was born only in the evening. It was a very quick and easy labour much to the surprise of the doctor and nurses.

Before going to the hospital, amma lit a lamp praying for my safe delivery and checked kaalnirnay calender which showed it was 'varamahalakshmi' day on it. It was a friday.



Malavika (fondly called 'akka' by the entirely family) only cried a bit and was frowning fiercly when she was born. But she settled down and was soon the favorite of everybody at the hospital.

Like some magic happened, everything at home was better. Daddy was declared healthy to return home, my brothers got job opportunities and my amma thinks it is 'paay gun' of malavika, born on an auspicious day. Luckily my father and malavika bonded so well that he took care of her most times and he gained is good health back.

Today the birthday falls on  yajur upakarma 



Another fun thing is not only amma and malavika both of my sis-in-laws share a birthday today..3rd August. 😊❤️