Our house help, a woman of indeterminate age, had almost half a dozen daughters. Some were married, a few engaged or going to be married and the youngest, Tara, was unmarried. Though older in age she was my playmate.
She used to often sing a particular song which went like this :
tamatar bade mazedaar
tamatar khane lage to
daant tutey chaar
Translated it meant :
The tomatoes are fun
When I ate them
I lost four teeth at once
Considering tomato is a soft vegetable how eating one four teeth can be lost raises a serious question as to the logic of the lyrics. But childhood has its own rationale. I loved this song and the way she danced on it and would often request her for a repeat performance.
Tara’s elder sister was Chandra – a rustic beauty – but an irregular worker. She’d often remain absent for days. Married and a mother of two she’d come to work when it suited her – the cuts and bruises on her body clearly visible. But she giggled a lot and hummed when she washed clothes and cracked jokes about how she got beaten up by her husband and mother-in-law. And then one day she eloped with a stranger leaving behind a drunkard and two small kids.
Sunita was a different cup of tea all together – unmanageable and quite a madcap. Sloppily dressed, hair unoiled and unbraided, she would announce her arrival by throwing the broom in the middle of the room with a loud, cheerful, singsong “main — aa — gayee” (“I — have — come”). Thereafter, she’d break into a dance and even in between chores making us all laugh.
However, Mother Nature swayed her magical wand at the appropriate time. Sunita attaining puberty stopped coming to our house. Soon she got engaged. The drastic change that came upon her thereafter was something to observe. The focus deficient girl with boundless energy transformed into a saree clad, shy, well behaved teenager!!
Keli came to work not because of want of money but because she wanted to keep herself busy. She maintained her dignity and freedom of choice and refused to work in any other household except ours. She was a good but moody worker. Not even my mother could tell her how to perform a chore. She would do it as per her own wish and will.
I don’t know where they are now. Tara must have got married. I wonder whether Chandra settled into family life given that nomadic streak in her. Sunita must be now doting over her grandkids while Keli must be heading a large family as a no-nonsense matriarch. Wherever they are I wish them all well – love and peace.
