F - MONDAY-25 NOVEMBER 2002

MONDAY - 25 NOVEMBER 2002

This winter morning is luring me to stay in bed for a longer time as it
is so warm and cozy, tucked away under the blanket. It's a working day,
unwillingly left my bad. Said my prayers and started my day.

I had spent a very pleasant and exciting weekend. Monday - very
special, it's like coming out of the previous weekend holiday mood and
starting a busy week that lies ahead. For the last few years I have
been eating vegetarian food on Monday's, that to home made stuff.

My mother is visiting me. Her morning starts very early ___ an early
bath, prayer for a long time, helping me in the kitchen and the rest of
the day is hers - reading newspaper, having an afternoon nap, spending
time on the balcony and watching the people moving about on the street
below and anything else she wants to do???..

Every morning she needs flowers to offer to God. I have no flower pots
or a garden of mine. Today she said, "Why don't you grow some seasonal
flowers in the flower pots. My needs will be fulfilled."

"Ma, who will nourish the plants and I don't have time for all this."
So saying I looked out of the window and saw the white clouds drifting
in the sky in company with the winds. Suddenly my thoughts ran down the
lane of the present to the past to get in touch with it.

My childhood memories started flooding me. When I was a child, my
father always said, "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man
healthy, wealthy and wise." So 'early to rise' had been a part of my
childhood. There were so many flowering trees in our garden. I remember
how I did spend time in plucking those beautiful white, red, yellow,
pink and the purple flowers and carried the flower basket to the prayer
room. The puja or prayer room was very special in our house. There were
six bronze idols, small ones, of the different Hindu gods. Every
morning after her bath, Ma would enter the prayer room. Her first duty
was to bathe the idols by placing them on a brass container and pouring
water over them. Next she wiped them, clothed them and placed them on a
platform. While going through the daily rites she adorned the idols
with flowers, the sweet scent from some of those filled the room, and
then she applied chandan paste and sindoor on the forehead of some of
the idols, lit up a lamp, the wick dipped in ghee and she even lit some
incense sticks. She offered sweets and a glass of water to the gods. It
took a lot of her time to finish up her puja room activities. The puja
room was a place of sanctity in the house.

There had been days when I had threaded the needle and made garlands of
small white flowers to adorn the gods. Once a year new clothes were
stitched for the idols. Small clothes sewn out of colourful materials
and Ma did all the stitching and at times I lent a helping hand. To
make them more gorgeous, Ma used laces and zari borders. From time to
time, to make the bronze idols retain their shine, they were rubbed
with sindoor which made them shine. At times she applied a thin layer
of tamarind pulp on the bronze idols and then rubbed and washed them
clean which brought back their golden shine. At night, Ma lighted the
lamp, lit some incense sticks and offered sweets and water before the
idols and then put them to bed. There was a very small cot, a cotton
mattress, small pillows and quilt for the winter. She had also stitched
a small mosquito net and used it at night to keep away the mosquitoes
which are the common nuisance here. For Ma, all her religious
sentiments were attached in doing all this for her gods.

Ma's puja room activities are so similar to that of one's daily life.
Here, at my house, Ma prayed before framed photos of gods, burnt
incense sticks, used chandan paste and sindoor to adorn the photos of
the gods at the foreheads and she used a wet cloth to clean the glass
of the photo. My neighbour gave her flowers on some days.

Life style has changed a lot and now I am late to bed and to rise. What
other changes await my children, I can't imagine.

Today I took Ma to a nearby park in the evening. While sitting on the
bench we saw children at play, youths trying to keep fit with
exercises, elderly persons sitting on benches and chatting away, some
elders sitting on the green lawn devouring the whole scene that is
before them while a few were busy with their 'evening walk.'

Helped my children with their studies and I did some reading and also
spent some time on my writing.

Spent a very nice day with Ma and I hope she will spend some more days
with us.

Ma's cooking is very special. We relished her cooked food and her
special homemade 'cheese jalebees' (a sweet dish) was terrific.

Both of us spent a lot of time talking about people and what
not???..

By the time I went to bed it was very late. Said my prayers and fell
asleep.