Sep 12 was going to be a very special day ... amma and I had been planning for this day for almost 3 months now. We had reviewed, re-reviewed and reviewed some more the Hindu calendar ("Panchanga") before narrowing this day. This day was chosen for my sister's first baby shower. So excited was my mother about this event, that she enthusiastically volunteered to cook for the expected 80 odd guests. Sheer pleasure of cooking for my sister's baby and to save sister / BIL some bucks was her reasoning for volunteering.
We had made several lists ... one for the menu, one for grocery, one for fruits, one for items to be carried to the rental hall, one for items to be carried from my house to sister's place, guests list, decorative items list, gifts list (gifts she has brought from India to my sister and her baby).
Everything seem to go as expected ... we bought the grocery / veggies on wednesday. Thursday, sep 11th, amma got up early, finished her daily chores by 9:00am. I grated / cut the veggies with the food processor. By 12:00 noon, Carrot Halwa, Mysore Pak (sweet), Hunase gojju (for Puliyogare) was ready. We soon packed stuff and shifted them to the car. The plan was to go to sister's place and complete the rest stuff there.... afterall she wanted to be part of all the excitement.
And so we reached sister's place around 1:30pm. After initial chat, and some rest we got to business again. Now all three (mom, sister and me) were packing the return gift bags. The "Puri Unde" for the event was ordered from India. We packed Puri Unde,(sweet) Blouse piece, Silver item (again from India), "Hurgalu" (spiced lentils). We were almost done with our packing ... perhaps there were 3-4 more packets to be done when the phone rang. I picked the phone ... caller id said "Out of Area" ... my sister asked me to ignore it dismissing it as a junk call. Something told me it wasn't a junk call ... but I kept quiet. Within a minute or so my mobile rang.
It was from my hubby .... he asked "Aren't you home?" I got rather irritated ... afterall I had told him, I was coming to sister's place ... how could he forget that? He continued "Got a call from India ... your ajja (grandpa) is sick" he said. My heart sank ... I looked at the clock ... it showed 4:20pm (which is 4:50am India time). My heart sank even more .... no one would call from India at such odd hours if it is not a serious problem. I shared the news with amma and sister. We immediately called daddy's cell phone. Daddy mentioned that my ajja's (amma's dad) health condition was serious and that he had been admitted to Apollo hospital. I refused to believe what I was listening to. Daddy handed over the phone to one of my uncles. Uncle V said "Ajja's condition is deteriorating by the second. He is counting is last few breadths". Now tears were flowing uncontrolably. We talked to my other uncle M, who was so shaken by the sudden turn of events around him. After talking to him for few minutes, we disconnected the call. Now amma, sister and me were in a state of extreme shock. Only 4 days back had we spoken to ajja and ajji. They were just healthy then. Just then the phone rang. Cousin S had called and she mentioned that ajja had passed away.
All of us were just going mad .... we didn't know what to do. My sister who is 8 months pregnant now sank on the sofa and started crying so badly that I really didn't know what I should be doing. We tried to calm her, forced her to take a couple of deep breaths, drink some water.(her BP seem to raise). The entire evening was spent on phone calls to friends and family. For the first time in many years, I felt helpless. I was reminded of the distance separating India and US every second. My mother who had spent all her life staying in the same city as my grandparents felt miserable not being there by grandpa's bedside at this time.
Without much debate, we cancelled the next day's baby shower.
The day which started on such a high note ended at a very very dull note.
Miss you ajja .... words just cannot express how I feel at this time.
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