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...

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...

L of #AtoZChallenge Lion King has changed the Sunrise for me!  It's a forever change.  There are rare times when I have seen a rising sun.  But whenever I have seen one,  'Naaaaaachiii baingyaaaa, baba bi chiwawaaa....'  rings in my ears!  I am that sun who rises on that screen,  I am that ant who walks on the twig,  I am those bisons who run, I am that leopard,  I am that bird who flies across the huge waterfall, I am the mighty elephant who slowly walks past the wide mountain,  I am also the flamingo who flies over the beautiful river basking in the early sunshine.  I am the antelope hopping to reach in time,  I am that little giraffe who runs with his mum, I am also Zazoo who glides and swoops down at Mufasa's feet,  and bows to him.  And then Mufasa smiles.  Oh that smile!  That kind, wise smile!  It is then when I knew that I wanted to BE kind l...

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 ...

'E' of #AtoZChallenge I never figured whether I started loving elephants because Ganpati was (and has been) my favourite or whether I loved Ganpati because he is Elephant-headed.  OR  Whether I started loving elephants because I had my own little elephant since I was a year old.  His name is Appu, he is around thirty-one years old now. He is from Dubai and was given to me by my Surekha maushi on my first birthday. He is soft and grey and has black beady eyes and he has a tiny, cute, flat tail. Over the years he has had multiple surgeries because I would always tuck him in my arms and take him around everywhere I went be to the doctors, to the dairy, while visiting the relatives; and also because I always hugged him and slept every night for the longest time! He has sock-made-tusks stuffed with cotton (which have been stitched over and over by my mum through all these years).  Appu was not just my playmate and a companion, but he was my brother!...

Kaal Gauri ani me kharya arthane sakkhe shejari zalo. Shejari kase asavet? Jey ekmekanchya ghari yeun have tey khanyacha jhinnas, kutchi goshta magun gheun jaanare- sakhar, virjanasathi dahi, aala aani vattel tey! Jey ekmekanshi daarat ubhe rahun gappa martat aani khup charcha kartat; Jey ghari banavlelya recipes exchange karun ekmekanna manapasun appreciate karnare asey shejari! Tar hya majhya definitions madhe basel ashya prakarche ‘shejari’ kaal Gauri ani me zalo. Kahi divsannpurvi me ghari jevayla hote. Aaini kutchitari boring bhaaji keleli. Me jevayla basnarach, tevdhyat bell vajli. Baghte tar Gauri ani tichya haatat zakleli vaati. Gauri ne swataha chicken curry keli hoti. Tey ti muddamun majhyasathi taste karayla gheun aali hoti. Tey jevan kay masta lagla mahitye ka! Mag kaal me swatahun kolambicha kalvan kela hotå. Mag hyaveli me tichya ghari dabba pochavla. Ghari parat yetana, jey satisfactory feeling ani ananda hota tey mhanje ‘shejarpancha’! Mala vatt...