A different woman........ not mediocre by any standards, is how I would describe my mother. Here are a few stories about her that made her the special person she was.
She had some definite ideas about what values we should have as we were growing up. She wanted us to develop the reading habit, and she wanted us to develop hobbies. My dad saw to it that there was never any dearth of reading material in the house. He set an example by doing tons of do-it-yourself projects around the house. Music was a big passion with her, and she taught us many age appropriate songs, that won us many accolades at school. Perfectionism was her virtue, and she would tell us to keep practicing softly till we ourselves were satisfied with the sound we produced. Classical music played in the background a lot, she believed that was how one developed a ear for music.
She was not for kids who spent all their vacation time playing outside. We were allowed to go out in the summer breaks in the mornings, but not more than maybe twice a week. In the evenings, the time was set, we could not go out to play before 5 pm and we had to be home as soon as the lights came on in people's homes, which was generally 7 pm. Sometimes, when we had ghost story telling sessions and all the moms were chatting on the terrace, this rule was lax. One summer, I was not ready to wait until 5 pm. I just had to go out. All moms in our area were pretty much like her when it came to timings, so not too many people would be around early. I still wanted to go out. I made sure she was engrossed in the magazine she was reading (an avid reader she was!), and quickly moved the big hand of the clock 15 minutes ahead. We had just one big clock in the house back then. It was not a such a headache as it would have been had my son decided to do it today,........ he would have had to change clocks all over the house, three just in the kitchen. Thank God things were easy back then. Then I hung around to make sure no one noticed, and turned the big hand another 15 minutes faster, so now I was one half hour ahead of time. Our clock used to generally be ahead by about 10 minutes, which all of us knew about and still it was supposed to give us those precious 10 minutes extra every rushed morning. Radio Ceylon would be on and she would shout... Saigal has started singing, and you are still not in the shower!!!!! For those of you who are not familiar with Radio Ceylon's 7:30 - 8:00 am program, it used to always end with a K.L. Saigal song. Our clock would show the time as 8:05 though.
Anyways, going back to my forwarding the clock story, I soon told her it was 5 pm and happily walked out. TV was nowhere on the horizon and so there was no other means of getting to know the time. I did this for two days and then got caught. Funny, but I don't exactly remember how this episode ended. One thing I am sure of, I was not spanked for it!
There was another time when there was some leftover gajar ka halwa in the refrigerator. I could not let it rest there. In the afternoon, when she would nap or read, I sneaked in the kitchen and one teaspoon at a time, I managed to finish the whole bowl. Then I covered the bowl and kept it back right where it was. However, I could not rest till she knew what I had done. So I went over and asked her to give me some halwa for a snack. She said she would, but later. I kept pestering, so finally she obliged and saw what had happened. She would tell the story till today about how her daughter could not let a wrong go unnoticed. That was something that puzzled me, when I was sure I was going to get a earful for something I had done, I would hear nothing at all, and unexpectedly, it would come.... and a good measure of it!
Once a political party worker ( a known friend) came over and told her to give Re 1 and register her name for the party. She told mom that all the neighborhood ladies had joined, and Re. 1 was a very small amount. Mom said she did not want to join any party but wanted to be outside of it to make sure she could vote for the party that worked the best. Being part of a political party was not her idea of support. She said I could give you Rs.10, but her name was not to be registered under the party. The lady was a little mad, she kept telling her that everybody had done it and it was not a big deal. Mom said it was a big deal for her. I was little at the time, and wondered why she did not do what every other lady in the neighborhood had done. On asking her about it, she said, Why should anyone do what is against their principles? In my opinion, one should not join a party just so it can boast that it's ladies wing has thousands of members, most of whom have done it just because a friend asked them to join." That was when I realized, she had an opinion, and the courage of conviction to stand by it.
What subtle lessons one learns by just being in the company of parents!
