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