It was Saturday evening and Vijaya was lighting the lamp at the altar. Kannamani went about like a littered kitten from one room to another.It was also the practice to light incense and spread Dhoop fumes in all the corners……a practice that Nayaki follows till date.....An adorable Saroja has taken the place of the affectionate Kannamani today and Nayaki feels truly blessed.
“It lends an air of divine ambience to the home,and I like to do it.As you light the lamp, keep the entrance door open for a while and allow the Goddesses of Health.Wealth and Prosperity to enter”…she added. Nayaki was a small child and her grandmother’s words were very inspiring.
With the lilting melody of Lalitha Sahasranamam playing in the background, Kannamani was back to her usual grumbling and nagging ways.”Remember we have less than a week left for Vijaya Dashami.” .The menu for the past one month had been meticulously chalked out in the first week of the earlier month.”No onions,no garlic,no drumsticks,no cabbage,none of the English veggies save the carrots”….Kannamani would mumble often and Nayaki would be highly amused....
Even today I laugh heartily when I think of my grandmother.Planning and executing breakfast,lunch,dinner for the day,planning and executing breakfast,lunch and dinner for the next day,planning and executing breakfast, lunch and dinner for the days after and for the special days weeks or months later,buying veggies for the day,for the following day and the days after,stock taking of groceries and provisions for the day,the following day and the days after was a routine she followed meticulously till the end of her life...
Come weekends and the toiling hands would take turns in rolling the grinding stones to churn out a steady supply of idli/dosa batter for the coming week.The daily lunch menu during the Mahalaya paksha boasted of all that was uninteresting and unpalatable…”Oh !Patti !Can we please do without the banana stems and the gourds?”…Nayaki would beg and plead.Her pleas would go unheeded though and the seemingly merciless grandma had the final say every day…….that she would cajole and console a weepy child with bars of Cadbury’s chocolates is a secret that Nayaki would rather keep to herself.
Decades later...........It is the 21st century and the year 2014.As September comes to a close it is Durga Puja time once again.A mod mami is back to old business.She plans and executes with perfection Nayaki style.Gourds and pumpkins are served for lunch.The senior citizens are a happy lot and the texting modern gen are irksome.With an aim to balance the old and the new,and to save precious time,Nayaki orders veggies online and pizzas are home made on demand.Breakfasts are a blend of TamBrahm and Continental veg……Aval Uppuma,Rava uppuma,Pongal with tomato chutney,Khichuree with Begun Bhaja for the conservatives ........Onion and garlic free Noodles ,Pastas and Nutella spread sandwiches for the youngsters.
"Its time to put on my thinking cap and gear up for a challenging week ahead," mumbles Nayaki."Just another week left for the Navrathri celebrations to end…..The rooms have to be cleared once again, furniture has to rearranged ,the mud dolls have to be wrapped in cloth and newspaper,and sent back securely to their designated positions up above in the lofts where they will stay in hibernation for another year .Slotted angles will have to be converted as shelves even as books small and large,many heavy,some light,hard bound and paperback,story books and novels,pillow sized medical textbooks and glossy journals,log books and record books await a release from the stacked wardrobes ,and from underneath the cots " she grumbles....
