By now, you would agree if I mentioned that I enjoy writing about real time experiences (I enjoy reading them too). Maybe because they are facts, people have been through them, you know them and can relate to them. Many a times there is food for thought when you read/hear about one’s experiences. However, these people might not be celebrities.
My father-in-law (will keep it FIL to make it type easy) is one such story teller (remind you, real time) I enjoy listening to him as much as he enjoys narrating them. My FIL has narrated the following incident to me at least a dozen times. Every time he narrates he is not sure if he has already narrated this to me earlier. I never mention to him that I have heard some incident many times. This incident is something that he can never forget, neither will I!
FIL grew-up in a big family. His father and brother were the only earning members. It was extremely difficult to have two square meals a day! Many days they slept starving. Temporary and small time Job opportunities were not many those days. His eldest brother was in a govt job, married. His brother started falling sick very often and the locally available doctors could not diagnose the problem. He pulled along deteriorating day after day. Unfortunately they did not have enough money to take him to a bigger city for better medical facilities.
After a lot of suffering, his brother died! It was the biggest shock to the family! He was very young, may be early 30’s, leaving behind his wife and a baby who was just a few months old. Adding to this, his father was retiring soon and this made the situation worse! While these thoughts were on everyone’s mind the irony was on the day his brother died they did not have enough money to afford transportation for his brother’s dead body to be shifted to the house so relatives and friends could pay respects. Most of the family and friends paid their last respects at the hospital.
With much difficulty my FIL’s father arranged some funds for the funeral and left the hospital to perform the final rites. The rest of the family members returned home inconsolable! It was late evening and after everyone had a bath, one of the neighbors offered some food to the children. Friends and relatives returned to their home. It was very late in the night when my FIL’s father returned home after performing his son’s last rites! No one spoke a word. He took bath, was very tired (he too was suffering from severe asthma!) and asked his wife for something to eat.
FIL’s mom had always been a brave lady. She put her sorrow behind, went into the kitchen and said would cook something to eat. It was no surprise; there was no rice, enough dhal, sevia, soji or anything that she could prepare food for her husband! She somehow managed to cook something and placed the food in front of her husband who was extremely sad, tired, sick and hungry! Everyone in the house was astonished seeing what she had just placed in front of their father! It was a payasam (sweet dish) made with just some jaggery and dhal!
There was utter silence. FIL’s father looked at the bowl and then at his wife. He did not know what to ask her? What would he? Why she cooked a sweet dish on the day their son had died? FIL’s mom was not crying anymore. Very softly she answered “this was all I could manage to cook with what was available at home today”…… FIL’s father lifted the bowl, drank very little. He did not say anything! Why did he drink the payasam? Maybe he did not want to disappoint his wife who had ignored her grief and gone all the way out to cook something for her husband who was hungry and tired? After sometime everyone retired to bed (or tried to catch some sleep). No one dared to discuss this incident amongst them! Everyone knew why their mom had cooked a sweet dish on such an unusual day! Was there a choice?
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