Of my Unnimamman and Vanajammai

Of my Unnimamman and Vanajammai

My uncle and aunt, with whom I spent 2 months, every summer vacation at our Girir Nagar home.  Unnimaman and Vanajamai, I cannot think of one without the other, simple and loving to me.

Unnimaman, this lanky person, with a wide and bright smile, always had time to talk to me and listen to his son, Sunil’s and my jokes and pranks and laugh at them.  Often when I got into a fight with Sunil he would side with me making me feel quite victorious those days.  When we had our “whose mango and jackfruit trees will grow faster” competition, after we planted the seeds at opposite corners of the backyard in Girinagar and after Sunil promised that he will water my plants the way he does his and I doubted his intent, I would tell Unnimamman to ensure that that were watered and looked after and he always said, yes, and would have an indulgent smile.  Unnimmaman’s spot on the dining table was on the moda, and he would contantly shake his legs while sitting down, and somehow I used to enjoy watching him eat.  Often Sunil and I would be sitting opposite him on two chairs.  After dinner, which used to be over by 8:00 p.m., we would all gather in Unnimamman and Vanajammai’s room where our theatre talent would emerge, with Sunil teaching Nandini to dance to some popular songs (not to mention that it was Lakshmi who taght me to dance to “chetti mandaram tulasi….”, complete with the strict instruction that I should see Guruyayurappan at a certain point in the song!) and we would enact movie scenes with Unnimamman and Vanajammai laughing away.  At some point achamma will come and ask why we are laughing so much and tell us that if we laugh too much we will have to cry later.  That never stopped us from being silly and happy and laughing.  Unnimamman, at a point had a stationery store and we all went there for inauguration and I remember my father giving me money to buy the first item from him and I bought some notebooks, which I had kept with me for a very long time.  Unnimamman who has not travelled much made sure he attened my wedding in Delhi and came with Nandini and for that I am immensely touched and feel greatly honoured.  His innocence, childishness and his simplicity lives in my heart and I feel that if I had a small percentage of those qualities in me I would have stayed away from anxiety and depression that I am battling with.  Unnimamman came and stayed with us in Delhi, to be with my father for about 2 weeks, and he spent his time doing just that, being with my father.  When my father’s end came, Unnimamman participated in all the rituals and I saw tears in his eyes as performed them with Raja, my husband.  In the end he passed on because of a condition that wasted his muscles and my last meeting with him was in the ICU at the hospital.  Nandini got me permission to go in and I went in with a book for him (he loved reading), and I saw a very thin version of my already thin Unnimamman.  He opened his eyes when I touched him, smiled his brilliant smile and asked me about “amma”, which I assume is my mother and what touched me most was that he asked about “Deva” which I know is Veda.  On November 1, a few days after I met him, I got the dreaded call from Nandini, informing me about his passing away.

Vanajammai, whose sambar is the best in this world is my aunt, she being  Unnimamman’s wife.  She loves anything of beauty and takes great care of her own personal appearance and I love her zest for life.  She introduced me to eye brow plucking and how to shape eyebrows without making it look artificial and even shaped.  She had many friends in the colony, Jessy aunty, Gita aunty and Pankajam’s mum were the best and to this day, when I think of Vanajammai, I think of her with them and their chatter, their discussions and their arguments.  For her, their were her soulmates in some form, atleast that is what I think they provided her, a warm and easy friendship with whom she could be herself and talk and heal herself.  I would often and even now tell amma, that her sambar does not have the flavour of the sambar that Vanajammai makes.  The fish curry that Vanajammai makes is out of this world too.  Her day used to be rather busy, make breakfast, make lunch/dinner, pack lunch for Nandini and Sunil and Valiachan, do the laundy and have lunch.  Then she would take rest for a couple of hours and give us our milk in the evening and go to either Gita aunty ot Jessi aunty’s home for sometime, and then come and prepare for the next day’s lunch and dinner by sorting and cutting the vegetables and have them ready for the next days meals.  She also laughed a lot and gave us her time and attention to our silliness and enjoyed with us.  She would serve us our meals and always smiled when I praised her preparations.  She has been the silent aunt in my life but an aunt who is easy to be with, talk to, and to laugh with.  I do wish that I can spend time with her the next time I visit Nandini at her home.

This one piece, is dedicated, with a lot of my love, for Vanajamai, Nandini and Sunil and to the memory of Unnimaman!