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. 😊❤️