The skies spilled their bounty just as mom was about to leave to keep her appointment with Lakshmi and her little one.
“Be back soon,” shouted mom over her shoulder, waving goodbye to her aunt and running to the call taxi parked outside the compound gate.
Like a filmi mom shouting, “Arrey, naashta to kar ke jao!” aunty stood on the porch and offered to make ginger tea while pointing worriedly to the dark skies.
Throwing her dupatta over her head, mom and the kids hopped, skipped and jumped over puddles and pelting rain to get to the taxi, which was locked, of course, with the driver snoozing inside. By the time she hustled her children in and climbed into the car, mom’s hair hung limp to her shoulders and her white salwar kameez clung to her curves, reminiscent of a wet Mandakini standing under a waterfall in Ram Teri Ganga Maili.
In a bit of an anticlimax, the conditions were tailor-made for a romantic rendezvous instead of a platonic one - the rain showed no signs of abating, the taxi’s windows were steamed up, the radio hummed Nee Varumpothu, and traffic came to a standstill on Chamiers Road, causing mom’s heart to leap anxiously as she watched the minutes speed by.
When she walked into the coffee shop a good 30 minutes behind schedule and mumbled her apologies, big South Indian eyes and a warm smile greeted mom. The children flashed each other toothy grins and waited for the ice to break, while their mothers bonded over drinks. Lakshmi was a model of Zen patience throughout the meeting, tending to her cherub and responding to her childish prattle with nary a trace of irritation.
Talk naturally turned to blogging, and a fellow blogger was sorely missed.
As she sipped her smoothie, mom thought about the chance encounters she has had with bloggers over the years at DesiPundit, where random posts have helped forge unlikely friendships across age groups, time zones and distance.
The rains descended the skies again as the women parted company with promises to meet soon.
As she sped away in her call taxi with a smile on her face, mom couldn’t help but notice that while Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth may beg to differ, when it comes to reticence, mom still remains the unparalleled superstar in the universe.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Namesake
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8 comments:
haha, nice! About time! :)
Well, I was up at the break of dawn thinking about you two biting each other's ears off about me :P
With each of you saying the same about the other on reticence, I'd have been like a hurricane scaring the living daylights out of you two! Talk about small mercies. ;-)
rads, we won't know unless we meet, right? Threesome sound good?
Aw Terri - Mom and Lakshmi met? That's great. I might have been at the meeting had it been one week earlier. :(
Looks like they had a great time.
I think I should be more regular in my visits, or else I'm sure mom would ask The who?
whaaaaat!!! Is this all? Not fair.
visitor, of course we remember you. I have the memory of a canine.
anon, what more do you want to know? :) L didn't do anything crazy like dance on the tables.
My only regret is that we did not go shopping for art supplies, as I had hoped to.
Rain. Spoil sport.
But then, what would we have told the kids? Those are cookies? What if the next time we are in the shop, the kids insist on Kamasutra cookies?
L, what will we do with art supplies in the absence of men? I've bought kaaju kathli and murukku/cheedai. That should bring as much, if not more pleasure, right?
Considering that you would be falling into the strong arms of loved-one in a few hours, art supplies would have come in handy.
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