Every
year I used to ring up Amma on Mother's Day. "Happy Mother's Day!" I
would trill. "Aiyyo" she would respond, "you are the only one
who remembers to wish me". Now, there are four of us and Amma thought,
like synchronized swimmers, we should do everything together. So, though Amma's
statement was true at 7 am, I knew by the end of the day all four of us would
have come good. For Amma, it was always ' that moment' that mattered.
"No
one gives me flowers" was another pet peeve and later when a bouquet arrived
from Suddha in Boston,
she went into raptures about Meena Periamma's darling children, much to my
annoyance. When I did buy Amma flowers, she scolded me for 'wasting Nila's
money' ( it never struck her that I did earn a few paltry pennies of my own!)
or she would say " Oh no, I have no vases ya, where will I put them?"
.But Amma did love receiving flowers, second only to receiving phone
calls with all the burning news.
Conversations
with Amma had no beginning or ending. She never bothered with a greeting but
just picked up from where she last left off. If she had asked me to eat
oats the previous evening, her morning phone call would begin with " Nimmou,
did you eat oats?' and when I sarcastically retorted "And a very Good
morning to you Ma..' she barely let me complete the sentence before picking up
on two key words- "Good" and " Morning" and go off on her
pet peeve... " Good Morning Pah! what bloody good morning, that bitch
Pooja did not come and my heart is killing me..."
Then
having said her piece she would ring off to pick up the conversation later in
the day. I miss that most about Amma- her skipping the inanities and just
cutting to the chase. Of course, when she was alive, i berated her constantly
about it, not that she let it bother her. Her infamous weapon in her armoury of
advice to Nimmou was " Eat oats and say Om"-
neither of which I did and thus according to Amma suffered from poor digestion
and a weak mind.
I
miss you Amma. I hope the angels give you a bouquet of red roses in heaven and
you are surrounded by souls who appreciate the wisdom in all your words. And,
look down and know your daughter has never stopped loving you.
Happy Mother's Day...
