\u201cAnu, Nandini, anybody. Can you hear me? The sun is scorching my head. Come and move my wheelchair.\u201d Grandma Gangamma hollered sitting under the mulberry tree in the front yard. She wore a white sari that covered her shaved head which offered little protection against the sun.<\/p>\n
Widow Gangamma was about 75 years old. If anyone asked her age, she told different figures every time. \u201cWho knows?\u201d she said smiling, \u201cwho knows when Ganga was born?\u201d She meant the Holy Ganges this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrakash, your mother, why she hollers like this? Our neighbors will think that we\u2019re ill-treating her,\u201d Anushka said while cutting okra in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnu, be patient. She can\u2019t hear well and because of the immature cataracts, can\u2019t see well. She gets tired easily so uses the wheelchair often. You know, people who are hearing handicapped usually talk loud.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always support your mother. The other day she hung wet clothes to dry in the backyard and our pesky neighbor inquired whether we have a dryer. I felt bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMother grew up and lived in a village in India and this is how she dried the clothes there. I\u2019ll tell mother not to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nandini, an eight-year-old granddaughter, a third grader, heard Grandma. She ran out, her two ponytails flying in the air behind. She gently patted Grandma\u2019s shoulders and pushed the wheelchair inside and helped her to bed. She brought Grandma a glass of dilute buttermilk. \u201cDrink this, Grandma, you\u2019ll feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLive for a hundred years,\u201d Grandma blessed.<\/p>\n
Nandini went to her room. She could hear the conversation of her parents in the kitchen. Children have that knack even while studying.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrakash, your brother, Krishna and sister-in-law in Bombay should share the responsibility for mother\u2019s care. I need a break. After a couple of years, we can get her back. Why don\u2019t you talk to Krishna about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnu, I don\u2019t mind asking him, but I know what the answer will be. They live in a one room apartment and a small kitchen with their two children. There is no place for mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrakash, you\u2019re spineless. Is it my responsibility to care for her always? Look at my friend, Vanaja. She placed her mother in a nursing home. Last year they went to Alaska, before that to Mongolia\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is there in Mongolia?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNomads, horses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have horses here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop it, Prakash.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat am I doing here? Washing this old lady\u2019s clothes, cleaning her adult briefs, giving baths and cooking for her. What a life I have. It\u2019s all my karma<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnu, listen. I\u2019m receiving a bonus this December. I\u2019ll consult an eye doctor and get mother\u2019s eyes fixed. I will buy her hearing aids. She\u2019ll see and hear better. I\u2019ll subscribe for Bhakti\u00a0<\/em>channel. That will keep her busy and she\u2019ll be calm. What do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll right. Let us see. This means I won\u2019t have the diamond ear studs that you promised for Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
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