Sunday 15 March 2015

Thank you Grandma for those moments of togetherness

Togetherness is a gift and spending time with your loved one is like a gift of god. Like the fragrance of a sweet smelling flower it brightens our lives, not just that particular moment but the memories of such time spent #together linger on and revisit us whenever we are in need of comforting or in times of stress. These are the pearls of wisdom that are the inheritance passed on to me from my grandmother. I was the first born of my parents and as the first born of the family a lot of love and care was showered upon me. Yet I was the daughter and like a lot of Indian households there were a lot of restrictions imposed on me. It was my grandmother who stood up for me and helped me fulfill my wishes. Be it getting permission for attending the scouts and guide came or joining NCC at school. Even though she herself was not very educated as she got married at an early age she made up for this shortfall in her life by getting books on loan from nearby students and library and taught herself . She encouraged me to study and   learn the household chores as well. Then when I reached  the marriageable age my parents found a suitable boy and got me married. I got married into a large joint family and my husband had a number of siblings. My in-laws household had very different customs and thinking and I had a very difficult time adjusting to them. Even my mother in law did not take very kindly to the fact that I was a vegetarian. Where as the men in my in-laws home enjoyed non veg food and my mother in law coaxed me to cook and eat non veg food. All this tormenting and coaxing took its toll on my health and I fell ill. Then when I returned to my parent’s home for a few days everybody showed a lot of concern looking at my stressed out state. My grandmother was concerned for me but maintained her calm exterior. She called me to her room and handed me a large plate full of rice that she was about to cook. She asked me to sift it and remove any stones or any other inedible parts that may be present. When I cleaned the rice she spoke with compassion she said. “Your future is like this rice mostly full of good things however the small stones that you see are the obstacles that would come in your life. Just like you are removing them before preparing your meal similarly you would have to remove the obstacles in your life . ” Her calming words were very soothing. She brought me a cook book from her collection and showed me a numbers of recipes that were pure vegetarian but in look and taste would beat any meat preparation.This is what I had needed,this one moment of being #together. This time spent in her company enriched and changed my life for good and when I went back to my in-laws place I won them over with my cooking. Slowly they began to appreciate my cooking and I adjusted to the customs of my new household..I shared with my mother in law my recipes and she too was moved and impressed by my ingenuity. Over time she became like my best friend. The time that I had spent with my grandmother had created a strong bond with her.In this time of togetherness she had passed on to me her life’s experiences and  it had taught me some very important lessons of life . It had taught me how to be myself and win people over with my genuineness and of course my cooking.  Thank you grand Ma !  
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 #together 

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