Lost in Chennai

Ever wondered how, when your mom and aunts meet after a gap of a few months, they immediately have to catch up on all the family gossip. Right from what happened to that neighbour's son to the uncle who lived abroad to the aunt who was lazy right down to the kid who didn't perform well in his board exams!! All this is when they would have incessantly mulled over the same topics on phone I might add. I suppose face-to-face gossip must be a lot more enriching and heart-warming. I have been a witness to this sort of a re-union every summer vacation during my school days when I visited my maternal grand-parents, uncles, aunts and cousins.

Another notable point worth mentioning is the shopping escapades of the mom and aunts. No trip is complete without a visit to Pondy Bazaar, Nalli, Rangachari, TNagar, some old favourites etc. All these shopping trips always happen in the sweltering heat :( Let me clarify for the benefit of the uninitiated that womenfolk are never satisfied with their burgeoning collection of sarees (my mom and aunts only wore sarees). Be it cotton or raw silk or printed silk, there was always a colour they missed or a specific pattern they had been looking for all their life and so on. Of course, the womenfolk were never selfish. All the kids also got a fair share of new clothes/bags/toys/books/clips, hairbands (for girls). But all of us would nevertheless be dragged with the women or left behind at home in the care of the unassuming 'paati' , my grandma who would invariably turn a little deaf thanks to our deafening Red-Indian yells and fights.

On a hot hot hot day, my mom and aunts decided to venture out saree shopping. So they announced their plans to the menfolk and packed them off to their offices as soon as possible. At that time, I was the only grandchild around ( I can't recall exactly why , but to the best of my knowledge the others weren't born yet ). My grandma was also pretty enthusiastic about shopping so I was also packed and entrusted in my grandma's care for this journey. Well, my grandma adored me and would give me undue attention during all these trips so unlike my mom and aunts. I am pretty sure she also preferred my company to that of her daughters. I hope my mom never reads this (grin). When the women minus my grandma went on a saree-hunt, I doubt they ever remembered anything else let alone the fact that they had kids :P

My mom and aunts were ahead on the lookout for shops selling sarees or saree accessories. They were professionals and could smell a saree shop from a mile. Me, holding my grandma's hand, and my grandma plodded along dutifully wondering when we would enter any A/C shop so that we could cool our heels. Have you heard of the cliched statement - 'Shop till you drop'? Oh, let me enlighten you that in my family, people will shop till they drop, following which they will get up, dust themselves and continue shopping !! Relief finally, we stepped into a cool showroom and I busied myself in observing the surroundings , people and bugging my grandma to buy me a Frooti. Despite the shopkeeper emptying all his merchandise, it was not quite what the women had in mind and so it was time to leave. There was quite a bit of disappointment and crowd at the exit.

My grandma and I got separated here. My grandma focussed on getting out of the crowd while I deftly caught hold of another woman's pallu (the end of the saree). Of course I assumed that pallu belong to my grandma. Really, what else could be the reason! My grandma got out on the street and noticed another kid was right behind her and she hurried ahead since she now realized that her daughters were far ahead. Well her daughters were oblivious to all this confusion and walked on grumbling about sheer lack of choices. Meanwhile, I would like to call myself precocious here since I instantly realized that the pallu did not belong to my grandma's saree. I let go and looked around lost and confused since I did not see familiar faces. Sniffing and almost in tears, it struck me that they were probably in the same shop. The shopkeeper recognized me and seeing me in tears, he seated me and gave me a toffee. Those were the days of non-connectivity; he lived in the hope that they would return in search of their offspring. Mighty nice of him if you ask me, considering the fact that my aunts and mom didn't even buy anything there !

In the same street, my grandma realized a few minutes later that the kid was no longer following her. Poor grandma got the shock of her life and yelled for her daughters to stop walking and start looking. My aunts and mom were unceremoniously brought back from their glitzy saree world to the present world of missing children. They screamed my name, pet name and everything they could think of. They enquired here and there. Not knowing what to do, they traced backwards and reached the shop finally. I had momentarily forgotten my folks and was happy in my world. Seeing them I was all smiles and they were relieved! Needless to say, the shopping trip ended ..atleast for that day. Sigh.

So long!