A tale for Ambu - Part 2 of 2
Written on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 by ShaK
Click here for Part 1 of 2
‘The house Nandini used to live in was an ancestral mansion of her grandfather. It was so big that you could play football in it!’ continued ajji as the wide eyed doll in front of her listened in rapt attention.
‘But,’ she sighed before adding ‘since there were so many people in the house no one ever had enough space. Bringing up so many girls under one roof was no easy task. It still isn’t … your amma got lucky, Ambu.’
Ambu smiled back looking at her grandmother’s clear appreciation of Janaki. It seemed that anything that praised Janaki would always be well taken by Ambu. As an only child with her mother’s undivided attention, Ambu had never known what having a sibling meant. This tale seemed to challenge that knowledge.
‘The house had been preparing for the event for almost a month. Nandini’s brother was the sixth child and the latest one to be getting married. As you can imagine that palace like house now seemed quite tiny with almost a hundred people running around to make a thousand arrangements. Remember when you had been to Girija mami’s wedding?’
Ambu nodded vigorously in approval before adding ‘I wore a blue chudidaar and I ate sugar cakes and played with Rashmi all day, ajji…and…’
‘Aah!’ intervened ajji before Ambu took off on her own track ‘…that is how big this event also was. Men, women, children, all dressed in new clothes with kukuma on their foreheads briskly pacing in and out of the house. The bridegroom to be, Nandini’s brother, wore a white silk shirt and black cotton pants. It was like a magic land where everything was clean and everyone was shining. Women walked around in silk saris they had kept specially for this occasion. The scent of agarbatti hung strongly on the entire house.’
Ajji’s facial gestures had hit a high note at this point as Ambu sat gaping at the toothless mouth unfold the next set of events.
‘Hiding somewhere away from all this drama was our Nandini. Her mother had given her special instructions not to interfere with the event. She had, from definite experience of course, learnt that involving Nandini in something as important as this would mean absolute trouble. There was no way she would do anything without creating a mess. And the one thing her mother did not want that day was that – a mess of things.’
‘Was Nandini sad about this, ajji?’
‘No. She was actually relieved that she was not given work. This meant she could do whatever she wanted and eat all the food she liked!’
‘Food!’ exclaimed Ambu as if she had been hungry for ages. Fortunately the hand that had fed this eager mouth just minutes ago was somewhere in the kitchen washing dishes else she would have commented on Ambu’s reaction lacing it with affectionate sarcasm.
‘Oh yes! Every sweet you could possibly think of was there. Gulab Jamoon, Laadoo, Rasmalai, Peda, Champakali….oh…’ The old woman’s mouth began to gulp invisible delights just thinking of the latest contents of her story.
‘Then what happened, ajji?’ said Ambu bringing the old woman back from her reverie.
‘Oh! The sweets were the size of my hand, I say! What a feast it was and Nandini had no one to stop her from enjoying any of those. She went around the large back yard that was now filled with cooks dishing out the best they could make trying to choose what she wanted to eat first. The aroma of all the delicious food items could be smelt from miles away!
‘Just a few yards beyond the backyard, past the old store room, stood a grand mango tree that had been there ever since she could remember. Nandini always loved raw mangoes. It was her only major weakness when it came to fruit. She could never resist a good one when she saw it. Once she noticed no one was watching, she decided to attend to the sweets later and headed to the tree instead. But as she passed by the store room she found something quite odd about it that day. The store room was usually a place where they kept things like dried coconuts, old and useless vessels, pots, pans, broken dolls, her brother’s bicycles and other items of the house. It was always locked to make sure only family members used the room. But that day the door was slightly open and the locked seemed to have been broken! Curiosity got the better of Nandini and she approached the store room to investigate.
‘When she opened the door she was surprised to see that someone had then opened the inner door that led into the house. That door was never closed and so everyone had access to it. She yelled out ‘Hello! Hello!’ a few times but there was no response. She followed the trail through the store room back into the house to see what the matter was. Once inside she found herself in the room adjacent to the worship room where they kept jewels and other expensive material. A loud thud from that room caught her attention and Nandini instinctively picked up a thick dry-stick broom that was lying around.’
‘Oh no!’ said Ambu as she suddenly stopped massaging the old woman’s knee.
‘Oh yes! She tip toed her way into the room and what does she see! A man is filling a bag with all the jewels! Nandini was shocked to see this and she shouted ‘Thief! Thief! Help! Thief!’ when the man turned around and dashed at her!’
‘Oh no!’ said Ambu again with fear written large on the genuinely concerned face.
‘Oh yes! He must have been as tall as a coconut tree! He had dark, big moustaches the size of banana leafs and his arms were as large as pillars! He ran at her and shut her mouth immediately. The broom fell from her hands as he dragged her away from the small alley door through which one could see people passing by inside the house. She kept screaming under the strength of this rakshasa but there was no one to help her. She desperately kept kicking her legs and trying to get away from him. But it was no use.
‘Just as he was about to take her to the store room she noticed an open jar of turmeric powder that got used in the worship room. She snatched it from its location and flung it onto his face!’
‘Yeaaaaaah! Well done!’ screamed Ambu clapping her hands in Nandini’s support.
‘Oh yes! The thief immediately let go of the bag from the other hand but grabbed her throat instead! In the mad panic of yellow stained sting and the rage of having been attacked by a little girl he screamed a little and started pressing her neck! But Nandini was brave. Oh yes. She managed to open her mouth and bit into his large and ugly fingers as hard as she could. He yelled out in pain as she pushed him away and picked up whatever jewels came to her hand. Without a care in the world she then dashed into the house screaming at the top of her voice calling out ‘amma!amma!’ so that her mother may hear her.
‘But just as she was about to reach the main celebration area, she found her mother getting out of one of the rooms. She was shocked to see Nandini drenched in turmeric powder from head to toe with her hair and dress in an absolute mess! She immediately slapped Nandini hard on the face before the girl had a chance to tell her what happened.
‘“ Ah! So you have managed to ruin the day for me after all, isn’t it! Why can’t you just be a regular girl for a change, Nandini! What have I done to you that you do this to me every single time! Today is a big day for your brother and look at you. Playing with color and messing up the floors! Do you know how many hours I have spent cleaning them! Do you?” Nandini stood in mute silence clutching the pair of bangles she had managed to salvage from the thief. She let her mother scream herself crazy as she dragged Nandini to the bathroom and dumped cold water on the girl’s head. Nandini stood in absolute silence as her mother continued yelling at her the whole time.’
‘But why didn’t she tell the mother ajji? Not fair!’ debated a visibly upset Ambu.
‘No dear. She didn’t say a word. I don’t know why. But she just didn’t tell her mother anything. A few moments later her mother left her soaking wet and returned to her work in exhaustion. Nandini returned to her room and dried herself off. That was when she noticed the pair of bangles in her tightly closed fist. They were the ones her mother had specially gotten done. Nandini hid those bangles from everyone’s sight immediately. No one ever heard of those bangles ever again.’
‘But was the thief caught ajji? Was he punished?’
‘No dear. He was never found. Everyone realized of the theft a few hours later and a huge argument exploded about how it had happened. The whole celebration wore a damp look after that as they knew they had to go on regardless. Nandini’s mother was inconsolable at the loss of her precious jewels. Specially the bangles.
‘She wept as her relatives held her “What a day I have lived to see! Those were not even for me! They were for Nandini. I was going to give them to her when she got married. Oh Lord! What a dark day this is! Why have you done this to us?” but Nandini watched all this without a word from her mouth.’
‘Nandini was a bad girl. She didn’t tell her mommy. She made her cry,’ said Ambu before letting out the final yawn.
‘Yes dear. That’s why always be good to your mother. She loves you a lot and you should always listen to her, alright?’ said ajji before kissing the young one a good night.
The old woman stretched back on her bed as Ambu left the room. The ceiling fan rotated in silent appreciation of ajji’s latest story. A story about how a girl had wronged her own mother. But was it really the mother who had wronged the girl? Ajji didn’t know. But one can presume ajji never wanted to know either. She slowly pushed her vein-ridden yet soft hand under the pillow and pulled out a small wooden box. She opened it carefully and looked at a pair of gleaming bangles sitting pretty as ever inside it. She smiled to herself and murmured ‘I got them anyway, amma. I got them anyway’ as a tear formed and disappeared in her aged eyes.
..end of part 2..
..ShaKri..
*amma = a Kannada word for mother
A tale for Ambu - Part 2 of 2
© 2007, a short fiction by ShaKri
‘The house Nandini used to live in was an ancestral mansion of her grandfather. It was so big that you could play football in it!’ continued ajji as the wide eyed doll in front of her listened in rapt attention.
‘But,’ she sighed before adding ‘since there were so many people in the house no one ever had enough space. Bringing up so many girls under one roof was no easy task. It still isn’t … your amma got lucky, Ambu.’
Ambu smiled back looking at her grandmother’s clear appreciation of Janaki. It seemed that anything that praised Janaki would always be well taken by Ambu. As an only child with her mother’s undivided attention, Ambu had never known what having a sibling meant. This tale seemed to challenge that knowledge.
‘The house had been preparing for the event for almost a month. Nandini’s brother was the sixth child and the latest one to be getting married. As you can imagine that palace like house now seemed quite tiny with almost a hundred people running around to make a thousand arrangements. Remember when you had been to Girija mami’s wedding?’
Ambu nodded vigorously in approval before adding ‘I wore a blue chudidaar and I ate sugar cakes and played with Rashmi all day, ajji…and…’
‘Aah!’ intervened ajji before Ambu took off on her own track ‘…that is how big this event also was. Men, women, children, all dressed in new clothes with kukuma on their foreheads briskly pacing in and out of the house. The bridegroom to be, Nandini’s brother, wore a white silk shirt and black cotton pants. It was like a magic land where everything was clean and everyone was shining. Women walked around in silk saris they had kept specially for this occasion. The scent of agarbatti hung strongly on the entire house.’
Ajji’s facial gestures had hit a high note at this point as Ambu sat gaping at the toothless mouth unfold the next set of events.
‘Hiding somewhere away from all this drama was our Nandini. Her mother had given her special instructions not to interfere with the event. She had, from definite experience of course, learnt that involving Nandini in something as important as this would mean absolute trouble. There was no way she would do anything without creating a mess. And the one thing her mother did not want that day was that – a mess of things.’
‘Was Nandini sad about this, ajji?’
‘No. She was actually relieved that she was not given work. This meant she could do whatever she wanted and eat all the food she liked!’
‘Food!’ exclaimed Ambu as if she had been hungry for ages. Fortunately the hand that had fed this eager mouth just minutes ago was somewhere in the kitchen washing dishes else she would have commented on Ambu’s reaction lacing it with affectionate sarcasm.
‘Oh yes! Every sweet you could possibly think of was there. Gulab Jamoon, Laadoo, Rasmalai, Peda, Champakali….oh…’ The old woman’s mouth began to gulp invisible delights just thinking of the latest contents of her story.
‘Then what happened, ajji?’ said Ambu bringing the old woman back from her reverie.
‘Oh! The sweets were the size of my hand, I say! What a feast it was and Nandini had no one to stop her from enjoying any of those. She went around the large back yard that was now filled with cooks dishing out the best they could make trying to choose what she wanted to eat first. The aroma of all the delicious food items could be smelt from miles away!
‘Just a few yards beyond the backyard, past the old store room, stood a grand mango tree that had been there ever since she could remember. Nandini always loved raw mangoes. It was her only major weakness when it came to fruit. She could never resist a good one when she saw it. Once she noticed no one was watching, she decided to attend to the sweets later and headed to the tree instead. But as she passed by the store room she found something quite odd about it that day. The store room was usually a place where they kept things like dried coconuts, old and useless vessels, pots, pans, broken dolls, her brother’s bicycles and other items of the house. It was always locked to make sure only family members used the room. But that day the door was slightly open and the locked seemed to have been broken! Curiosity got the better of Nandini and she approached the store room to investigate.
‘When she opened the door she was surprised to see that someone had then opened the inner door that led into the house. That door was never closed and so everyone had access to it. She yelled out ‘Hello! Hello!’ a few times but there was no response. She followed the trail through the store room back into the house to see what the matter was. Once inside she found herself in the room adjacent to the worship room where they kept jewels and other expensive material. A loud thud from that room caught her attention and Nandini instinctively picked up a thick dry-stick broom that was lying around.’
‘Oh no!’ said Ambu as she suddenly stopped massaging the old woman’s knee.
‘Oh yes! She tip toed her way into the room and what does she see! A man is filling a bag with all the jewels! Nandini was shocked to see this and she shouted ‘Thief! Thief! Help! Thief!’ when the man turned around and dashed at her!’
‘Oh no!’ said Ambu again with fear written large on the genuinely concerned face.
‘Oh yes! He must have been as tall as a coconut tree! He had dark, big moustaches the size of banana leafs and his arms were as large as pillars! He ran at her and shut her mouth immediately. The broom fell from her hands as he dragged her away from the small alley door through which one could see people passing by inside the house. She kept screaming under the strength of this rakshasa but there was no one to help her. She desperately kept kicking her legs and trying to get away from him. But it was no use.
‘Just as he was about to take her to the store room she noticed an open jar of turmeric powder that got used in the worship room. She snatched it from its location and flung it onto his face!’
‘Yeaaaaaah! Well done!’ screamed Ambu clapping her hands in Nandini’s support.
‘Oh yes! The thief immediately let go of the bag from the other hand but grabbed her throat instead! In the mad panic of yellow stained sting and the rage of having been attacked by a little girl he screamed a little and started pressing her neck! But Nandini was brave. Oh yes. She managed to open her mouth and bit into his large and ugly fingers as hard as she could. He yelled out in pain as she pushed him away and picked up whatever jewels came to her hand. Without a care in the world she then dashed into the house screaming at the top of her voice calling out ‘amma!amma!’ so that her mother may hear her.
‘But just as she was about to reach the main celebration area, she found her mother getting out of one of the rooms. She was shocked to see Nandini drenched in turmeric powder from head to toe with her hair and dress in an absolute mess! She immediately slapped Nandini hard on the face before the girl had a chance to tell her what happened.
‘“ Ah! So you have managed to ruin the day for me after all, isn’t it! Why can’t you just be a regular girl for a change, Nandini! What have I done to you that you do this to me every single time! Today is a big day for your brother and look at you. Playing with color and messing up the floors! Do you know how many hours I have spent cleaning them! Do you?” Nandini stood in mute silence clutching the pair of bangles she had managed to salvage from the thief. She let her mother scream herself crazy as she dragged Nandini to the bathroom and dumped cold water on the girl’s head. Nandini stood in absolute silence as her mother continued yelling at her the whole time.’
‘But why didn’t she tell the mother ajji? Not fair!’ debated a visibly upset Ambu.
‘No dear. She didn’t say a word. I don’t know why. But she just didn’t tell her mother anything. A few moments later her mother left her soaking wet and returned to her work in exhaustion. Nandini returned to her room and dried herself off. That was when she noticed the pair of bangles in her tightly closed fist. They were the ones her mother had specially gotten done. Nandini hid those bangles from everyone’s sight immediately. No one ever heard of those bangles ever again.’
‘But was the thief caught ajji? Was he punished?’
‘No dear. He was never found. Everyone realized of the theft a few hours later and a huge argument exploded about how it had happened. The whole celebration wore a damp look after that as they knew they had to go on regardless. Nandini’s mother was inconsolable at the loss of her precious jewels. Specially the bangles.
‘She wept as her relatives held her “What a day I have lived to see! Those were not even for me! They were for Nandini. I was going to give them to her when she got married. Oh Lord! What a dark day this is! Why have you done this to us?” but Nandini watched all this without a word from her mouth.’
‘Nandini was a bad girl. She didn’t tell her mommy. She made her cry,’ said Ambu before letting out the final yawn.
‘Yes dear. That’s why always be good to your mother. She loves you a lot and you should always listen to her, alright?’ said ajji before kissing the young one a good night.
The old woman stretched back on her bed as Ambu left the room. The ceiling fan rotated in silent appreciation of ajji’s latest story. A story about how a girl had wronged her own mother. But was it really the mother who had wronged the girl? Ajji didn’t know. But one can presume ajji never wanted to know either. She slowly pushed her vein-ridden yet soft hand under the pillow and pulled out a small wooden box. She opened it carefully and looked at a pair of gleaming bangles sitting pretty as ever inside it. She smiled to herself and murmured ‘I got them anyway, amma. I got them anyway’ as a tear formed and disappeared in her aged eyes.
..end of part 2..
..ShaKri..
*amma = a Kannada word for mother
A tale for Ambu - Part 2 of 2
© 2007, a short fiction by ShaKri
