A Mom Like Manisha

I am Kanchana. The youngest of the lot in my family. My grandmother used to say that I was GOLDEN in color when I was born. Hence the name. I have three brothers. The eldest Jayanth works for Hongkong Bank and is an MBA Gold Medalist. The middle one Sunil is a Computer wizard working for a big company in Dallas, U.S.: an eccentric genius, he spends his time counting the Dollars that he makes. The third, Vinish, is a Bachelor in Economics and currently awaiting his admission to the Masters’ course.

I, Kanchana am the darling of all the three brothers and once in a while in the firing range of my Mom for being ‘very Tom Boyish’.But a couple of years back, when my maternal Grandma paid us a visit, she did compliment me by these words, directed towards my mom “Just like how you were when you were young…uncontrollable ( adangaapidaari).”

This helped to lessen the shower of bullets aimed at me once in a while.

I am a Copy Writer in a small time Advertising Agency and attend a Course on Computer Graphics in the evenings. I float around with a lot of psychedelic Multi-Media dreams in my eyes and heart, hoping to become the future Creative Director at LINTAS  or O & M.

Our family is a lovely and lively one. We are specialists in this that none of us ever gets angry with anyone or anything. We are a Jolly Good Family.

My Papa Bhaskar is an Architect. He sings Gazals…ditto of Gulam Ali in voice. He plays tennis. He goes jogging every morning. A health –freak and all of fifty-five years, he looks like a forty-year-old.

My Mom -Sulakshana. - a real beauty as the name suggests ( Papa always says that when he went to Bride-See her, he got lost in her eyes).M.A. in English Literature. A genius in Carnatic Music…you can sit and listen to her melodious voice the whole day. Currently on a mission to capture Hindustani Classical too. A wizard in cooking and a heroine among our relatives and the people in our building (SIGH!!! Will I ever become like her?).The only negative aspect is, she is Fat…Quite Fat. Really F a a a t.

“Hey Kanch. It’s half an hour since the table was set. Appa’s here too. Do you need a special formal invitation or what ?” Vinish was calling out loud. He always exaggerates.

I stopped writing my autobiography and took my place at the table.

“Wow! Potato roast !!” I took two big scoops and was about to take the third when Jayanth held my hand,

“Are you going to compete with Mom in putting on weight?”

Mom stared at him.

“Hey, Mom you look beautiful even when you roll your eyes. Please pass on one more parantha”.

Vinish was relishing the ghee- dripping parantha and turning towards Mom, asked her,

 “Mom, why don’t you do something about your weight? I mean ,seriously. The other day I had gone to my friend Ranjith’s place. Appa, you must see his Mom. Wow! What a slim smart lady she is!!”

I chipped in, “Why should Appa go and see your friend`s Mom? Ranjith`s Papa might fly at Appa with a jadoo (broom).”

“Please don’t make a joke of this Yaar. Amma has to reduce. At least from the health point; of course, she’ll look more stunning if she loses a few kilos.”

“Yes Mom,” I said. “What Vinish says is correct. Try and reduce your weight Mom ,,,”

Mom interrupted me.“All because of you.After your birth my weight has just been on a growing graph,” she took another ladle of the roast when Jayanth leaned across and caught her hand. “Hey! No Mom. You’ll only put on more weight.”

There was a tinge of regret in her voice as she spoke, “What am I to do! Don’t I want to be slim too? I am not able to …”

Papa spoke for the first time (of course his mouth was busy with the paranthas & the roast),

“Yes Sulu. Follow a good diet pattern and be serious. It is good for your health. All the aches and pains you have been complaining about in your knee joints will vanish.”

“Yes, Mom. Right now, you are the Heroine in this building. Whether it is Diwali or Holi or Christmas or Sankranthi..every one craves for the dishes you make and seeks your help in decorating their homes. If only you lose say, six kilos…Wow !” I gave her a hug and went to wash my hands.

“Yes, Mom. You’ll become like your favorite star...Manisha Koirala,” Jayanth added.

“Okay Okay..what do you want me to do?”

Vinish-

“You are not eating too much. But you must cut down on the snacks…Mrs.Banhatti’s Patties, Mrs. Gupta’s Milk Halwa, Aggarwal aunty’s Moong Halwa..then, Creamy Curd, Butter…”

The doorbell chimed.

“Who could it be at this time,” quipped Mom and proceeded hurriedly to clean the table.

A thirty-year-old young man and a girl in twenties stepped in.

“I’m Tejus,” said he, “and this is Mamtha. We’re coming from Lovely Television Channel. Is this Mrs. Sulakshana Bhaskar’s house?”

“Yes. Please take your seats,” said Papa and they sat down.

Papa introduced all of us and Mom who joined us.

Tejus spoke.

“Aunty, Mamtha here’s your son Sunil’s colleague. He has told her so much about you and your culinary skills. We shall be presenting a program for Diwali and we want to take a shot by the shot feature of your making Badam Halwa, about which Sunil used to rave.”

You must have seen our Mom’s face glow!

“But this is just July.” She said.

“Yes..we just came to inform you so that you’ll be prepared. We’ll be doing the shoot in the first week of October. You can demonstrate Badam Halwa and some other South Indian savory too.”

They left, leaving behind an air of joy and excitement.

Vinish spoke in a serious voice, “Mom, now you have to shed a few kilos. The whole world will be seeing you and we can’t have a lady taking up the whole television screen.” He spoke in Hindi. Whenever he gets emotional, he would switch over to Hindi. His Tamil normally sounds like the dubbed version of the Hindi serials.

“Yes, Sulu. You have to seriously think about reducing your extra pounds,” Papa chipped in.

“Yes, Mom. Cut down on sweets and chocolates. And of course Murukku and Mixture. Ah! I wrote a Copy last morning for a new product called Stepper..”I said

“What’s that?” asked Appa.

“It’s a small gadget Appa. Step on it and push the button and it will work like a stairway. ‘Just ten minutes on our Stepper. You’ll experience weight Loss. It reduces Pressure. Cuts down stress. You too can become a Manisha Koirala...Tan Ta Tooooinggg..” I said. “Mr. Bhaskar, gift your wife this wonder machine.It costs just Rs.2000/ = Taxes extra..”

The whole house echoed with laughter.

“Two Thousand Rupees? No way. I shall use the staircase.”Mom said.

“Aha! When there’s a power failure, I know how difficult it becomes for you,” Appa said.

And so -

The Stepper made its grand entry into our home. Amma cut down on her sweets. She switched over to buttermilk. She ate a lot of fruits and salads. We could literally see that she WAS losing weight. Jayanth adorned the walls of the kitchen with posters of Manisha Koirala and SriDevi. He drew the picture of a Fat Woman and put it on the fridge, lest she is tempted to eat chocolates or butter. 

By September she had lost considerable weight and looked stunning.

Then, one fine day, danger walked in the form of our Grandma. She had come from Palghat to attend a wedding and stayed with us for ten days.

“Ende Bhagawathi..what has happened to you Sulu? You look NGEEEEE…”.We hurriedly explained to her that she was not ill or anything etc. etc.

“I don’t like all this,” she fumed. “Eating grass and raw vegetables like a goat. (Enna ithu ? Elayum Thazhayuma thinnundu .Aadaattama?). Not using ghee…body will get heated. Remember you are a mother. No one is going to “Bride See” you now.. blah   blah…”

Phew! When she finally left, Boy ! Were we glad! We thought she would brainwash Mom into throwing off her diet schedule!

But Mom was great. She now weighed fifty-five kilos. She looked stunning in starched Bengal Cotton Sarees.

The building was agog with Mrs. Bhaskar’s weight loss and lovely looks.

It was on the 20th of October and Vanish's Birthday. Four of his friends were expected in the evening and Mom was busy making Curd Vadas and Badam Halwa.

“Mom...Please come out. Tejus and Mamtha are here.” I yelled.

Amma came out wiping her hands in the pallav of the saree.

 “Good God Aunty! What happened to you? You seem to have lost a lot of weight!” Mamtha and Tejus talked in a single voice.

Amma blushed and told them, her face glowing with a sweet smile,

“Strict diet and walking. I feel so healthy now. No aches and pains. I feel good too…as if I am in my college days.”

Mamta paused a while, looked at Tejus and said, “But… we.. er..I mean..”

Tejus took over, “Aunty..I. .we.. think that now we may not be able to.. er.. use you for the show. You know, we were looking for the Mom Next Door..you know..some one plump and Motherly…and..” Mom was looking at them with an expression of disappointment.

Mamta spoke “Aunty..a lot of programs these days look so artificial with people who look like Models presenting the show. You looked like a typical mother.. round and glowing…you know that mother next door image..but..”

“Oh ! That’s OK.” Mom seemed to have taken it all in good spirit. “Wait for a while. Today is Vinish’s Birth Day. Taste the Dahi Vadas and Badam Halwa at least,”

“ No Aunty. Some other time. We have to go hunting for a fat lady now.”

I accompanied them in the elevator going down.

Jayanth and Vinish were waiting in the lobby.

“Well. How did it all go? Was Mom disappointed?” Jayanth asked.

“Not much “, I said. “ She must be, deep inside, but took it well. In the drama, we all enacted she has lost weight. That’s enough. And what with the history of Diabetes and Heart problems in her family..”

Mamtha said, “She looks absolutely healthy and lovely Yaar.”

She and Tejus were Jayanth’s colleagues working in his office and had agreed to act as Television Producers after we requested them to. Appa too was a part of this charade. All of us wanted Amma to be healthy and we had achieved what we wanted.

Three of us took the elevator up and quietly peeped into the kitchen to see if she was shedding tears of disappointment, feeling a bit guilty for having played this dirty trick on her.

Shedding tears? No way!

Our own Manisha Koirala was seated on the kitchen slab, a big bowl of ghee-dripping Badam Halwa in her hand, wading into it with a glow on her face !!!