The Yellow Butterfly

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...

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 ...

*Crump*  *Crip* *Kudum*  The leaves and the twigs broke under my shoes. I was panting and puffing and sweating. Ashu dada called out, “We are almost there!”  I put my head down and kept climbing until there was no more to climb.   “Guys, you got to see this!”  I raised my head and lost my breath.  We were standing atop a hill overlooking the the magnificent snow mountains. The Dhauladhar range covered in white swept across our eyes. The sky was a true ‘sky blue’ and the sun shone on the tallest of the peaks.  I was in heaven!  And to prove that the cities lay on the other side cramped up like little ants.  At Triund  and Photograph by me :)  Once I had gotten my bag in my yellow tent I sat outside and lay on my back  watching the soft fluffy white clouds breeze by, taking in every bit of the snow wonder. The snow mountains looked no less than a bowl of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with choco chips...