The little things
The little things I remember about my mother....
1) How her hair looked when she came out of her bath, always smelling good.
2) Her tin box where she had envelopes of cash specifically assigned for various monthly expenses - she would have made a fantastic finance controller because she controlled those finances
3) She bought me 1 Cadbury dairy milk bar in her monthly purchases
4) How she slept so lightly in the afternoons and I had to hold my breath or tiptoe around her or face her wrath for waking her up
5) The time I found her waiting at the bus stop when I was in fifth grade. It was my first day on the public bus. I was livid that she didn't trust me (see post on small stuff). She took the same bus, sat in a different seat. We didn't talk or make eye contact. I got off at the right stop and walked home 20 feet ahead of her. As soon as I entered the house, I turned around and expressed my irritation. She feigned like she didn't know I was going to be on that bus and she was in the area for her own work. All lies.
6) How she threw a classmate and friend out of our house because she came over the day before ninth grade History exam (yes, History) and asked me to go get a shake. I stepped out on an exam night and came back way before curfew. She was livid. She scolded me and that girl. That poor girl didn't know what hit her. (My mother later called her and made amends, though that girl avoided me for the rest of the school year).
7) She was my champion. She went to speak to my teachers when she thought I deserved something, she traveled with me to Kolkata to talk to the elders in the family when I struggled with the decision to move away to the US for five years. She even let me go so easily. I can't imagine how it must have been for her those years.
8) How sharp she was about things. And although that sharpness remained, she had grown more child-like in the last few years, signalling her cognitive decline which I find heartbreaking.
9) Learning my tables with her. We took a break and went to Abhi's house. She asked Abhi what was nine times six. Abhi said 54. I was like, wow, that will take me forever to remember. We went back home and continued working on the tables.
10) How it was so much easier with her than with Baba when I was a teenager. She was so much more indulgent, acquiescing.
1) How her hair looked when she came out of her bath, always smelling good.
2) Her tin box where she had envelopes of cash specifically assigned for various monthly expenses - she would have made a fantastic finance controller because she controlled those finances
3) She bought me 1 Cadbury dairy milk bar in her monthly purchases
4) How she slept so lightly in the afternoons and I had to hold my breath or tiptoe around her or face her wrath for waking her up
5) The time I found her waiting at the bus stop when I was in fifth grade. It was my first day on the public bus. I was livid that she didn't trust me (see post on small stuff). She took the same bus, sat in a different seat. We didn't talk or make eye contact. I got off at the right stop and walked home 20 feet ahead of her. As soon as I entered the house, I turned around and expressed my irritation. She feigned like she didn't know I was going to be on that bus and she was in the area for her own work. All lies.
6) How she threw a classmate and friend out of our house because she came over the day before ninth grade History exam (yes, History) and asked me to go get a shake. I stepped out on an exam night and came back way before curfew. She was livid. She scolded me and that girl. That poor girl didn't know what hit her. (My mother later called her and made amends, though that girl avoided me for the rest of the school year).
7) She was my champion. She went to speak to my teachers when she thought I deserved something, she traveled with me to Kolkata to talk to the elders in the family when I struggled with the decision to move away to the US for five years. She even let me go so easily. I can't imagine how it must have been for her those years.
8) How sharp she was about things. And although that sharpness remained, she had grown more child-like in the last few years, signalling her cognitive decline which I find heartbreaking.
9) Learning my tables with her. We took a break and went to Abhi's house. She asked Abhi what was nine times six. Abhi said 54. I was like, wow, that will take me forever to remember. We went back home and continued working on the tables.
10) How it was so much easier with her than with Baba when I was a teenager. She was so much more indulgent, acquiescing.
Comments
Post a Comment