The Yellow Butterfly

'S' of AtoZ Challenge  शाळेचा पहिला दिवस  जून महिना आला की शाळा आठवते! आपण कितीही वर्षाचे असू,  तरी शाळेच्या नवं वर्षाची ती उत्सुकता आठवतेच !  जून सुरु झाला की थोडातरी पाऊस पडतोच!  मग आई बाबांबरोबर दुकानात जाऊन,  नवीन इयत्तेची पुस्तके आणायची trip आठवते.  नवीन textbooks, notebooks, pencil box, pencils, water bottle, अगदीच जुनी झाली असेल तर नवीन school bag...  अश्या सर्व नवीन ,कोऱ्या वस्तू आणून, घरी येऊन त्या सर्व बाहेर काढून, त्यात नाक खुपसून त्याचा वास घेणे!  अहाहा! It was the smell of 'Newness'!  तेव्हाच खऱ्या अर्थाने  शाळेचा नवीन वर्ष सुरु व्हायचं !  घरी येऊन शाळा उघडायच्या अगदी तीन-चार दिवसांपूर्वीच, आई माझी सर्व पुस्तकांना नवीन brown covers घालायची! आणि ती ताठ आणि कडक मस्त बसायची! तशी covers मी नंतर 7th-8th मध्ये गेल्यावरही मला जमली नाही! मग नवीन uniform, तुटली नसेल तर नवीन छत्री,  आणि पायाची size जास्त मोठी  झाली नसेल तर,  नवीन...

Q from AtoZChallenge Quilt.  गोधडी.  Hand-stitched गोधडी!  When I was around seven or eight, my Aaji hand-stitched two गोधडीs for me. One was a magenta-red with white and orange dots and elephants on the border and the other was a bright mango-yellow with tiny white polka dots and a brown border.  She had used four of her sarees, rather पात्तळ (her word for her everyday soft cotton sarees) and had undertaken this 'project of love' for me, her youngest grand-daughter!  She had layered one saree over the other, keeping the pretty, softer side on the outside and had hand-stitched it with the thicker thread and a taller pin.  My Aaji had a sewing machine at home. A regular tailor's machine, which worked manually. The one where you had to step on and keep pedaling and tapping for the machine to move. She had used the machine for years, stitching bags, pillow covers, making kids' dresses and many things (which surprisingly I never got to see...

'P' of #AtoZChallenge  लहानपणापासून पु.लंचं घरी येणं जाणं असायचं!  कधी cassette मधून गोष्ट सांगायचे, कधी radio वरून गाणी ऐकवायचे.  आणि भरपूर वेळा आई आणि आजी मला त्यांची पुस्तके वाचून दाखवतं.  मला तर ते माझे आजोबाच वाटायचे!  किती गोष्टी सांगत, किती हसवत!  जास्त करून त्यांच्या गम्मतीदार गोष्टी ऐकल्यामुळे ते माझ्यासाठी खूप मोठा Source of Happiness होते आणि अजूनही आहेत!!  मी सहावीत होते तेव्हा ते गेले.  मी पहिल्यांदा कोणाच्या 'जाण्यावरून'  एवढी रडली असेन! तेव्हा तर मला फारशी idea पण नव्हती की, ते नक्की कोण आणि कित्ती मोठे आहेत! मला माझेच आजोबा गेले असं वाटलं! दुसऱ्या दिवशी आणि त्या नंतर झालेल्या media coverage नंतर कळलं की फक्त मी नाही ते सगळ्यांचेच favourite आजोबा आणि Once in a Lifetime Phenomenon होते ! त्यानंतरच्या दिवसात, सगळ्याच channels वर त्यांची नाटकं, गाणी, काथा-कथान, जुने films broadcast केले!  खूप blessed वाटलं की मी ते असताना जन्माला आले, आणि मला ते थोडेसे मिळाले!  आणि त्या...

O of #AtoZChallenge At night, when the world would be making it's bed, waiting to drop down, my Aaji would put on her transistor in her bedroom and listen to old Hindi songs on radio. Suddenly, everything would go quiet. A warm, fuzzy feeling would envelope our house. A smile would appear on our faces, the worried wrinkles on the foreheads would disappear and we would find ourselves going down the Old World Lane!  Ah! The eternal- Old World Charm! Even today when I hear any old Hindi song, my imagination turns into  black and white and I get transported right into the song!  If I have to revisit an era, I would travel to the 'black and white Mumbai' era. When the streets looked squeaky clean, the Victorian buildings at VT, Churchgate basked in it's full glory, Marine Drive and the Arabian Sea looked it's cleanest. During my time-travel, I can feel the warm wind blowing, making my tresses dance. I imagine life to be simpler with lesser choices, less...

N of #AtoZChallenge Nalu म्हणजे Nalini, my Aaji. My Aaji has a played a BIG role in my life. My Aaji (Mum's mum) and we lived together till she passed away. I got her, all for myself till the time I was twenty-one years old!  She was not just my Aaji, but my roommate, my sister, my friend, my Guide, my Teacher! All rolled in one! My Aaji would often tell me stories. And some of these stories would be memories about her childhood. Whenever she narrated I would immediately be transported back in time, to the Mumbai of the late 1920's and early 1930's! My imagination would turn sepia and I would see my Aaji as a दोन वेण्याची छोटी choti Mulgi (but with my Aaji's face)!  Aaji grew in the heart of Dadar. Her father taught my Aaji everything! He put her in the best school of Dadar (King George semi-English), he helped her in her studies through school, he encouraged her to sing and learn the harmonium, he taught her to cycle on the f...

M of #AtoZChallenge  प्रिय मुलुंड,  मी तुला खुपचं miss करते! मी ह्या जागच्या पाठीवर कुठेही राहीले तरी,  तूचं माझं कायमचं घर अशील!  तुझ्या रस्त्यांमध्ये एक वेगळीचं warmth आहे, ओलावा आहे, comfort आहे !  दूर बसूनही मी बऱ्याचदा तुझ्या रस्त्यांमध्ये रमतगमत फिरत असते.  बरंच काही शोधात असतें, बर्याच आठवणी आठवतं असते! कदाचित मी त्या ओळखीच्या रस्त्यांवर,  स्वतःचीच पुसट झालेली ओळख शोधत असेन ? माझ्या मुलुंड पूर्व मध्ये कोणी हरवूनही हरवणार नाही!  सगळे रस्ते, सगळे गल्ले, सगळे कोपरे, अगदी जाणून आहे मी!  लांब चालतही गेले ना, तरी घरी परतायचा रस्ता सापडतोच!  गोल आणि छोटं आहे नं माझं मुलुंड East!  कुठूनही सुरु केलं तरी तिथंच येऊन पुन्हा सुरु करू शकतो!  ती झाडं, ती सावली पण लक्षात आहे,  अगं मीच काय,  तुझ्या त्या Saidhan जवळच्या झाडावर पण, पीढोन-पीढी राहणाऱ्या चिमण्या पण दर संध्याकाळी तेवढाच किलबिलाट करतात! खाली रस्त्यावर दर महिन्याला वाढणारा traffic क...

G of #AtoZChallenge Ganpati's Aaji-Aajoba, Parvati's parents, are Earthlings.  Every year Ganpati visits Earth twice and lives as a fellow Earthling.  Aaji Aajoba make sure to invite all their relatives and friends over to the house to meet Ganpati.  Then all the family friends sing and dance around Ganpati and entertain him thoroughly.   Just because they know how foodie Ganpati is, Aaji-Aajoba lovingly make 'special Ganpati meals': modaks, shrikhand, different sorts of bhaajis and pulavs every single day!   Every year Ganpati goes back to his parents chubbier and fluffier.  This year while Ganpati and Parvati were underwater and were on the way back home, Parvati playfully cupped and squeezed his chubby cheeks and chuckled, "Your fitness freak Baba is going to freak out more than ever!"   Mushak giggled, "Kheeekikheekii.."  Parvati looked at him crossly, "You too are looking fluffier than usual!"...

F of #AtoZChallenge My first school was Yashomandir. At age four. It was a Nursery school in Mulund East.   The uniform was a red pinafore with a white shirt. My mum would fold a handkerchief in a triangle and pin it (with a safety pin) on the left-hand side.  My school name-badge would be pinned on top of it.  The Principal of our Yashomandir was Teacher-Aaji.  I never made an effort to know her real name because for me she was Teacher-Aaji. Whenever I meet her, I still address her Teacher-Aaji.  She was a tall, pathicha kana taath (spine-straight) woman who had the looks of a commanding yet a kind Principal.  My class teacher's name was Rita Teacher.  My memory of walking down the street to Yashomandir is fresh to the extent that I still remember how the sunshine felt, how I hopped and skipped to school holding my Aaji's hand, the warm breeze that flowed, the hide and seek the sun played through the shady trees.  I even ...