I WROTE THIS ON THE NIGHT OF 18TH OCTOBER 2012, WHEN I WAS IN UDAIPUR....BUT
CUDN’T COMPLETE WRITING IT AND HENCE DIDN’T POST IT......
PSOTING THE INCOMPLETE THOUGHTS...............
“...........................Few things always remain close to one's being,
throughout his/her life. From childhood days till the end of the journey,
certain things rarely changes, at-least in their importance and their
relativity to the ongoing life. If I sit to count, there will come up at-least
eight to ten things, which have not changed since i remember myself being
myself, and i believe they will not change until i stop recognizing myself. But
today, i want to talk about only one thing out of that vital list.
My love for
milk, curd, ghee, buttermilk, home-made butter, and out of these, milk has
always been my favorite dairy product. No doubts, coffee tops the list, but
now, talk about the milk. Milk with bournvita and sugar, neither piping hot nor
cold, just a little above the lukewarm mark, that is what i love. And i always
enjoyed sipping it up in one breath. I do the same till date, except when it is
accompanied with a heavy breakfast, because then it goes sip by sip helping me
swallow each morcel of the food.
Time
changes almost every aspect of one's life. Before i turned teen and moved to
ahmedabad to live with my maternal grandparents, i lived with my parents in
Valsad. I remember, till then, almost everyday my grandparents(paternal) would
enter into kids room and serve all of us one by one (my siblings and cousins)
with a big brass glass full of milk before we went to the bed. Later after some
years during my visits home, i observed my mother doing the same for us. And
now since few years, my father has happily taken over this part of her job and
he kind of takes pride in serving us all that glass of milk, before we go to
bed and also with the breakfast in the morning, but, of-course only when we all
go there to stay with them, let's say for about once or twice in a year.
When I lived in Ahmedabad,
both my aunts played my mom's role. They both knew that it was very difficult
for me to go to sleep without that glass of milk. Almost everyday, i was served
the same. But whenever they missed out on giving me that, because of many
reasons, i never went asking why it happened so. I could never do that in my
life for anything whatsoever and to an extent, i am still the same. It is very
difficult for me to ask for those thing/s, which i feel i should get or which
belongs to me. But i never blamed them for that, because it was a big family
and both of my aunts were always laden with loads of things to be done from
early morning to the late hours.
Later sometime when i
lived in the hostel during my engineering days, i was forced to learn to go to
sleep without that nectar of the night. Our hostel mess was not operational and
our food was served twice in a day, by the outside caterer, who rejected my
request of supplying the milk. But during the same time, when i use to visit
home, i chose not to drink milk even then, so that it wouldn’t hurt me again on
my return to the hostel.
Some years later i
started working, stayed with my grandparents for a year or so and then moved to
Rajkot with a better job opportunity. Then again, i had the freedom of choosing
my meals and the drinks. Time flew by swiftly and i got married.
As i said, time
changes things and so it did again. Now i prepare that cup of bournvita milk
for my kids, husband and the other members of the family as and when they come
over. Once in a very rare while, it happens that i get to be served with that
cup of milk without me making it myself. Though i still try to have it almost
everyday, but the fatigue i earn after running behind the kids for whole day,
and the desire to go dead in the bed at the last hour of the day, hardly leaves
me with any energy to prepare cup of milk. And in that case, even though all others
are left without that last serve of the day, hardly anyone volunteers to help
us all out with the servings.
Today i am missing my
father a lot. The latest memories of last few years about that tasty milk of the
perfect temperature being served at the end of the day, is mostly related with
my father and his unending energy and passion to keep his kids happy in every
way possible. Since an hour, i am having
a strong urge to have that hot drink to be served, but honestly i have
no mind to go and prepare it for myself. I made it for Nishka and fed her. My
father in law had it, Charvi doesn’t want it and mother in law is fast asleep.
I have come to Udaipur with my kids as i had to attend some class for few days.
I want my father to
live a very long and prosperous life and of course i wish the same for my
mother as well. This day, this hour is presenting me again and again with the
memories of that gloomy day when my father had a fatal heart-attack. Six months
back, 6th april to be precise, when packers and movers had packed everything
out of our Pune home and moved out, we proceeded to the hotel with my parents.
My mom had come ................”
SOMETHING MOVED MY ATTENTION AND I LEFT IT INCOMPLETE THAT NIGHT
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