The Unexplainables

The Unexplainables

3 mins
9.9K


It was a day after the last rites had been performed for my maternal grandmother. My Mom was yet to come fully to terms with the fact that she had her mother no more. My grandmother had not been keeping well for months. Still, when she had to be hospitalized last time, my Mom had a faint ray of hope, that she would be able to bring her back home. But Grandmother never returned.

My Grandmother was an excellent cook. She loved to make fancy dishes.....of chicken, fish, and sweets for us whenever we would visit her. One of my most memorable events would be attending Laxmi Puja at her place. She had idols of various Gods and Goddesses in her prayer room. But she was particularly fond of Laxmi Puja (might be because that was when I would still have vacation at school due to Durga Puja, and I would visit her with Mom). She would prepare Naadus (small, brown soft spherical sweets made of coconut and jaggery), let me put Rangolis, and in the evening would feed us Khichdi with varieties of delicious vegetable dishes after the Puja was done.

My Grandmother also had a large number of sarees of various designs and materials. She was also very fond of interior decoration. So her flat was stuffed with decors of various sizes. My mother went to the flat one day to check out the items, as it had to be vacated soon. She distributed most of the sarees among the poor and needies, the maid and care takers. She found an old Esraj (a violin like musical instrument) that my mother's grandfather used to play. She thought of preserving the same and decided to bring it home. She was wondering what to do with all the decors. They churned up too many memories. But others won't value them much either. As she was thinking all these, she bent down and found a small, new Laxmi idol wrapped in cellophane paper, lying under the bed. My father being an atheist, and my mother having no belief in idol worship (she used to pray in Brahmo samaj style, where you offer prayers to a shapeless, formless almighty..the ultimate source of energy), my mother didn't know what to do with the idol. "Let me come back tomorrow or day after and see...if I can give it to some one," she thought , as she decided to leave for the day.

Next morning, while she was making tea, Sudha didi came upstairs. Sudha didi was the full time maid of my paternal grandparents who stayed on the groundfloor of our house. Due to old age, my grandmother couldn't climb stairs, and so used to often send Sudha Didi to call my Mom or send her something.

"Boudiii..O Boudi", Sudha Di called my Mom from behind (Boudi is sister-in-law in bengali)

"Yes Sudha, tell", asked my Mom...still weary from last night's work and grieving as well.

After a bit of hesitation, Sudha Didi told her, "Boudi...your mother..I mean the bed she slept on...there's a Laxmi idol under it...have you seen it? You have to get it"

Listening to this my Mother was pretty surprised as she had had no discussion with any one regarding this. Also, nobody other than her had ever explored the flat that way.

"Laxmi idol? Of curse there's one ..but how do YOU know it?" my Mom asked, still dazed.

"No..I mean.." Sudha did said, gulping a bit, "your mother-in-law...she saw your Mother in dream this early morning. Your mother told her...there's a new Laxmi Murti under my bed. Only my daughter should get it.. as I don't trust anybody else.. She should float it away in the Ganga"

Hearing this my Mother almost felt dizzy with bewilderment. "It's okay..." she managed to tell some how, "Go tell her I'll do it".

Needless to say, my mother got it the very same day and floated it as per the order. But till date, none of us has an answer to what had exactly happened.


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