“Meera, where are you off to wearing that new paavada and blouse. Didn’t I tell you to put them on only when your uncles arrive,” hollered Kochu Therisiamma.
Meera by then was out of sight. Ignoring her mother’s warning, she darted across the narrow passageway, and entered the main courtyard.
Meera took along with her chalks and a paper with pookalam designs mapped on it. Meera was expecting her uncles and cousins in the evening, the house had to be decorated before they arrived and Meera was busy getting the house in perfect condition.
“What’s up, Meera? What are you so carefully working on?” asked George, Meera’s classmate who lived down the next lane.
“My cousins and uncles are expected to arrive in the evening. I need to give them a grand welcome. I want to make the house look beautiful,” replied Meera.
“That’s a beautiful design, Meera. But why are your relatives coming now,” asked Georgekutty.
“You know that my Ammachi is not keeping well. Every year they promise to visit us, but each year they put off the visit giving some excuse or the other,” said Meera.
George had little knowledge of designing and decorating the pookalam, but he sat with Meera and helped her finish he intricate designs. George then filled the empty spaces of the design by filling it with bright yellow and orange coloured flowers that Meera had bought the previous day from the local market.
“Meera, where are you? Rush immediately to the backyard and bring some plantain leaves to serve the sadya on,” yelled Therisiamma from the kitchen.
Meera asked George to give the finishing touches to the pookalam and rushed to the backyard to cut the plantain leaves. With a pocket knife, Meera neatly sliced four huge plantain leaves and cut them into two from the middle.
When Meera reached the kitchen to hand over the plantain leaves, she didn’t find her mother. Just then she heard her mother scream from the adjacent bedroom. “Meera, come fast, I think Ammachi is dying.”
Meera rushed to her grandmother’s room and saw her grandmother gasping for breath. Tears rolled from her mother’s eyes and Meera was standing in the room shocked and puzzled.
“Georgekutty, please rush and arrange an ambulance. I think my grandmother is breathing her last,” screamed Meera, recovering herself from the shock.
Meera’s dad had died in an accident and the responsibility of the household was upon her mother’s shoulders. Their father’s siblings had not looked after them or their Ammachi.
Meera and Therisiamma took Ammachi along with them in the ambulance to the hospital. The teary-eyed Meera leaned on her mother’s shoulders as she along with Therisiamma watched the hospital staff remove the life supporting system from their beloved Ammachi. Alas! Ammachi had died.
Meera asked her mother, “Didn’t Ammachi spend all her life sacrificing for her children, then why didn’t she get to meet them? Why was fate so cruel on her?” Meera was confused with the ways of the world.
Therisiamma said, “Meera, people with time forget the sacrifices made and go ahead without being grateful to the blessings received.” Therisiamma reminded Meera, “Meera, Mahabali was a man of his words; he lived for his subjects and their needs.”
Meera, with a deep sense of affection and love exclaimed, Amma, whatever happens, I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Their grandmother had died, but was left with a mother and a daughter who pledged that such a fate wouldn’t befall them.
Meera by then was out of sight. Ignoring her mother’s warning, she darted across the narrow passageway, and entered the main courtyard.
Meera took along with her chalks and a paper with pookalam designs mapped on it. Meera was expecting her uncles and cousins in the evening, the house had to be decorated before they arrived and Meera was busy getting the house in perfect condition.
“What’s up, Meera? What are you so carefully working on?” asked George, Meera’s classmate who lived down the next lane.
“My cousins and uncles are expected to arrive in the evening. I need to give them a grand welcome. I want to make the house look beautiful,” replied Meera.
“That’s a beautiful design, Meera. But why are your relatives coming now,” asked Georgekutty.
“You know that my Ammachi is not keeping well. Every year they promise to visit us, but each year they put off the visit giving some excuse or the other,” said Meera.
George had little knowledge of designing and decorating the pookalam, but he sat with Meera and helped her finish he intricate designs. George then filled the empty spaces of the design by filling it with bright yellow and orange coloured flowers that Meera had bought the previous day from the local market.
“Meera, where are you? Rush immediately to the backyard and bring some plantain leaves to serve the sadya on,” yelled Therisiamma from the kitchen.
Meera asked George to give the finishing touches to the pookalam and rushed to the backyard to cut the plantain leaves. With a pocket knife, Meera neatly sliced four huge plantain leaves and cut them into two from the middle.
When Meera reached the kitchen to hand over the plantain leaves, she didn’t find her mother. Just then she heard her mother scream from the adjacent bedroom. “Meera, come fast, I think Ammachi is dying.”
Meera rushed to her grandmother’s room and saw her grandmother gasping for breath. Tears rolled from her mother’s eyes and Meera was standing in the room shocked and puzzled.
“Georgekutty, please rush and arrange an ambulance. I think my grandmother is breathing her last,” screamed Meera, recovering herself from the shock.
Meera’s dad had died in an accident and the responsibility of the household was upon her mother’s shoulders. Their father’s siblings had not looked after them or their Ammachi.
Meera and Therisiamma took Ammachi along with them in the ambulance to the hospital. The teary-eyed Meera leaned on her mother’s shoulders as she along with Therisiamma watched the hospital staff remove the life supporting system from their beloved Ammachi. Alas! Ammachi had died.
Meera asked her mother, “Didn’t Ammachi spend all her life sacrificing for her children, then why didn’t she get to meet them? Why was fate so cruel on her?” Meera was confused with the ways of the world.
Therisiamma said, “Meera, people with time forget the sacrifices made and go ahead without being grateful to the blessings received.” Therisiamma reminded Meera, “Meera, Mahabali was a man of his words; he lived for his subjects and their needs.”
Meera, with a deep sense of affection and love exclaimed, Amma, whatever happens, I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Their grandmother had died, but was left with a mother and a daughter who pledged that such a fate wouldn’t befall them.