I rarely seem to get time to sit and have a nice chat with my parents with this hectic schedule everyday..Today I made it a point I must try and spend some quality time with them..We started off with some random topic and digressed which is often the case..Mom told me how her memory seemed to be on the wane in recent times and she attributed this to lack of working with numbers and excessive use of the calculator..While we were thus pondering about short term memory and long term memory, mom mentioned the extraordinary ability of my granny (paternal granny) to recollect and remember the most obscure incidents from the past and her attention to the most minute of details. I have seen many people with an exceptional memory, even an elephantine memory, but cannot really think of anybody in the same breadth as my gran..It did not stop with her memory. She proved that lack of education was not a barrier for knowledge..I can vouch that almost every second fact I have known or learned in history, mythology, Sanskrit, Indian culture, Carnatic tradition and singers and so on and so forth can be attributed to her..
I was sitting in a Starbucks in California two years back when I got the worst possible news.I had known that she was ailing but could not make the trip to India to see her, talk to her and comfort her in those last days..it is a regret that will live with me for the rest of my life..She had had a premonition a week or two earlier and despite wanting to see me badly, she knew it would not be possible..she made sure she would do the next best thing though..Her voice that day on the phone was full of life..I could feel the underlying pain though..Her usual questions- did you eat?..how is job search?..hope all is well etc were followed by 15-20min on her favourite topics...The Vishnu Sahasranamam, the Mahabharata, the Gita itself and so on..I was possibly the only person around her to whom she could talk about what she loved the most..
She loved the fact that I had an affinity for Sanskrit and despite her not having any formal training in the language, her rendition of complex shlokas was impeccable to say the least..her knowledge of the scriptures, the mythology, the Puranas and many other cultural aspects was beyond belief..I was blessed for I was almost entirely raised by her and all this knowledge passed on to me..One might say that these topics lie in the domain of most people of that generation, but this would never do justice to her voracious appetite for knowledge..Be it ancient Indian history, the world war, the Indian freedom struggle, modern Indian events- she knew them all...I can vividly recall Operation Bluestar and the details of that fateful event, the various assassinations she told me about..For someone who had not even a high school education, she was fluent in at least 5-6 languages...her numerical ability was exceptional and I never once saw her use a calculator...
I wasn't present physically, but heard that people came from all over...nearly every relative and friend was present the week before she passed away..The enormous respect she commanded was visible..She taught me nearly all I know...my interest in Sanskrit-not limited to the Sahasrananam, shlokas, the Gita etc, Carnatic music- the names of the maestros- Semmangudi, Ariyakudi, Palghat Mani, MS and the other greats and their superb songs and Indian culture in general can be solely credited to her..believe it or not- she imparted most of the early cricket knowledge to me..Match scores and details I always got by virtue of a single phone call home..People still fail to fathom how she was able to grasp the nuances and details of the game and actually watch it to give me the score..
Quite simply, one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever met in my life..Her grasp of myriad topics and in depth idea of each made her truly special..In the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna asks Yudhishtira to meet and acquire all the knowledge from the omniscient Bhishma he can before the great Bhishma left the world..In a sense, I have been fortunate to have been able to at least gain a part of the encyclopaedic knowledge that my granny possessed..
3 comments:
yup.. u guys sure got along super well.. good! :) nice one.
super madhu u r so expressive, we are living with mummiamma thro ur blog. thank u so much to put all our feelings in ur blog, it is so touching kanna no words can express our emotional attachment we all had with her. it is a great loss for us.
Amen Maddy! I miss her so much, it hurts like a physical hurt...u understand? We only got to see her during vacations n visits but, we learnt so much even in those short stints. I won't forget the glint in her eyes when I started earning, flew down on 'offcial trips'.......she had so much pride bcos I'd 'arrived' in her eyes. She was so supportive and welcomed Sanjib and Kunju into our lives so easily, without an ounce of doubt about traditions, society norms. She was more modern and broad minded than even her Gen Next. I recall telling her that I wanted to do the last rites for Dad and she understood. It was so great to show Sanjib snaps of her music guru / scholars she'd met as a child in the Mysore Palace / museums. God...n the tables..she could rattle the 28 n 35 xs! I am sure I inherited the love for music n God n Good things n the ability to grasp new languages n connect easily with people thru her genes. To me she is till this date the epitome of what a woman, a mother can do despite severe adversities. She n Dad remain with me always....I know what you mean about not being able to see her in the end. She passed away hours before I was to reach Blr....time just slipped through my fingers Maddy......like sand. I always felt she came to 'sign off' when she visited Mumbai last...she came to log off, say her good byes...she knew and somewhere deep down so did all of us. All of us are really blessed and supremely fortunate to have been the apples of her eye na?
Post a Comment