To my daughter, with Love
The house was bustling with energy. And why not? Mr. Jadhav’s daughter’s wedding was just a week away. Lovingly he was called Dada. Single handedly he was managing the chores of five people. Over a cup of evening coffee, his daughter, Naina, asked him, "Dada, so what will be my wedding gift?”
"What do you want my dear?” Dada said throwing a gentle smile at her.
"Umm… let me see… something exotic! The best gift I’ve ever got!” said Naina, grinning broadly.
"As you say! Now lets get going… we’ve loads of work to do.” Dada smiled and left the room.
Amidst all the hustle and bustle the marriage finally took place and Naina left her parents’ home, for an unknown city, to embark upon a new journey. A week later the couple settled down to unpack the wedding gifts. Naina hurriedly dug through them, eager to see what Dada had given her. Soon she found a rectangular box wrapped in a silver paper and a note on top:
This is all I have. Hugs.
- Dada Curious, Naina carefully unwrapped the box, and to her surprise, she discovered a grinding mixer, a tad too old fashioned. She looked at it for a while wondering why her father presented her with such a gift. Even back home they had the latest choppers and crushers and grinders! Thinking it was some kind of a prank she kept it aside and soon forgot about it, while she struggled to adjust with her new life.
A month later Naina came back home to Dada as part of a ritual. One evening she casually asked him why he had given her that mixer. "What a gift Dada! Not fair! And you said you’ll give me the most precious thing you had”, she was back to being the small pampered kid that she was when Dada was around.
Dada placed his hand over Naina’s head. Patting it lovingly, he began, "It is my dear! It is!”
"You might be aware, as I’ve told you time and again when I’ve asked you to be economical, that we were not always this rich and a lot of struggle has gone behind every penny. And as most villages in post-independence period were, mine wasn’t all that wealthy either. Now you see fans, tube lights, televisions, telephones, tractors, water-pumps, motorbikes, etc… but forty years back, the scene was quite dismal. Frequent power cut-offs, and a dim bulb for light. Men worked in their farms all day long while women slogged at home, cooking for the huge extended family, all day long, and occasionally even working in farms. Having a bicycle was a luxury in those days. After schooling, with 10 rupees in my pocket… mind you, only 10 rupees… my dad sent me to the town, to get a degree… I was the only one inclined towards studies, your two younger uncles preferred to stick to farming. My marks were good enough to fetch me to a seat in the government college for mechanical engineering. "
"Yaa, and I still remember how you always told me I don’t fetch good marks despite all facilities”, Naina teased.
Reciprocating with a smile, Dada continued, "But they were really bad days. Back home, I had no financial support. I couldn’t frequent home because I hardly had any money. Aaii had started keeping ill. A lot of money went into her medication. That year when I did go home, Aaii mentioned the mixer. She didn’t know what it was called, but she had heard that there was a machine available in the city that does all the grinding stuff for you. All masalaas, grating, vegetable chopping… She asked me to get it for her. Those days I didn’t even have enough money for food. I used to iron my clothes by keeping them under the bed whole night. How was I to get the mixer? But the first thing that I would get with my first salary was a mixer for her… I promised!"
Dada stood up, Naina remained seated. He walked towards the window, and continued, "After four difficult years, I passed out with really good marks. The college offered me a scholarship for further studies, and a cash prize of two hundred rupees. two hundred was quite a lot in those days! And purchasing a mixer was the first thing I did. The only available ones in those days were the ones with two or three different grinding pots. I wanted to surprise aaii, so I didn’t inform anybody about my scholarship.”
I was making arrangements to go home that weekend, when I got a telegram: ‘aaii expired. come back soon’
Dada halted for a while, and with a soft snuffle, said, "She went away, far far away… tuberculosis snatched her away from me… I couldn’t even see her before she left.”
With remorseful eyes, Naina stood up. Walking towards him, she said, "I’m sorry Dada”.
Tears welled up in Dada’s eyes. Looking far away from the window, "You know, the mixer I gave you, that you found so old-fashioned is the same one I had bought for Aaii. You always asked me what was the secret I had kept locked up in my trunk? This mixer was one of them, my most prized possession"
Hugging Dada she cried, "Thank you Dada, this is the best gift I’ve ever got... the best!”
(p.s. theme borrowed from a story read at one of the Caferati readmeets.)
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