Shanti

Shanti was the first housemaid I hired when I arrived in Madras in 1964; she stayed on to work in my house for almost fifty years. She was a strong character, with a sense of humour. She quickly learned cooking according to my style of Gujarati food, and advanced from sweeping and washing, to cooking, to essentially running the household just as she liked.

She eventually gave birth to nine children. When she had about half that number, I began to try to convince her that enough was enough. Then one day, my friend N T Rama Rao, the legendary Telugu film star (he had not yet entered politics) came home for dinner. Shanti was excited, and assembled her entire family to take his darshan. She was triumphant when NTR told her that he had even more children than she had, and that she need not listen to my family planning lectures.

Shanti grew old, and one day she had a fatal heart attack in my house. We still sometimes call for her by mistake, and only then realise that she has been gone for many years. She is very much alive in our memories.

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Anonymous wrote:

(Looking at your picture, Shanti) i kept thinking of the balika badhu photo

(http://rameshgandhi.blogspot.in/2015/12/balika-badhu.html)

so i checked it out.  The striking thing is that while the young girl, who incidentally was placed on the inside of a window seemed hopeful and waiting, the one that has aged battling life on the outside, still does not appear hopeless and weary.

All of it cannot be lighting ka kamaal :)