Baby Aunty

Baby aunty is my God mother. She and Thomas uncle lived very close to my parents home. It was walking distance. So it was easy for them to visit. They visited every week. Most of the time when they come they bring something for me because I was their God child. Otherwise all other relatives found Jerry kuttan the most adorable amongst the three of us. Only Baby aunty and Thomas uncle had perhaps that special feeling for me. They would bring laddoos or mangoes or something. There was a mango tree in front of their house that grew small sweet mangoes. Every year when this mango tree had mangoes Baby aunty would bring some for us. Uncle wants to go as soon as they come. Everybody tells uncle to sit. They had a cow in their house. Mostly the reason uncle wanted to leave immediately after coming to our house is the cow that is left for grazing outside and has to be brought inside. They had a cat and a dog. The dog's name is Tiger. If uncle is not at home and baby aunty is scared Tiger barks at strangers. If I am visiting Baby aunty makes sure the cat is under a basket because I was and continue to be scared of cats. Then they built another house. And gave the house on rent. In their house there was a chechy. The chechy's name is Leelachechy. She was cheerful, loving, happy, and nice. She was their niece from uncle's side. She stayed with them. Then after marriage she lived in a nearby house. Aunty lives with Leela chechy. That Leela chechy sang nicely during prayer. In their home the song they sang was maalakhamarude bhashayarinjalum. I used to love to listen Leela chechy sing that song. I used to learn bharathanatyam in my childhood. There was a particular step that I was taught by my dance teacher. Leela chechy liked that step a lot and made me perform that step over and over again for her, Baby aunty and Thomas uncle. They would clap and laugh when I danced. This would have been during extreme youth. When I joined pre degree Baby aunty asked me if I know a girl called Simi in my class. She had studied in boarding school and had joined St. Teresa's for pre degree and had the same parish as Baby aunty. One day when my father was dropping my aunt off to her home Baby aunty showed me Simi's house. Her house name is Koithara. Baby aunty was very talkative. She sometimes told us old stories. I think it was she who told me about living in a property near the Synod church and how the family was known as palliparambukar. Later they moved to another house near the junction. Baby aunty told me of the time when my grandmother passed away the new born baby my father's and baby auntys youngest sibling Sicily also passed away. She told of how my grandmother was moved to Always for a cure but she passed away. Those must have been harrowing days actually but when she told me I could not understand the pain but now I understand the pain the family would have gone through. She also used to tell me about my grandmother who is her mother. She said my grandmother was very pretty when she was young. She also told me me about a lot of my father's and hers relatives in Alwaye. She was the oldest among the sisters and was like a mother to Fabian uncle. She and Rosy aunty another aunt stopped going to school when my grandmother died yet some relatives said my aunt was very smart and argued family things very well. I have heard a relative say that if she studied she would have been a judge. My cousin Jereena stayed in their home and studied for a few years because there was English medium school near their house. Thomas uncle and Baby aunty doted on Jereena. In 2018 I went with Baby aunty and Kochuthresia aunty to Udayamperoor church. The past few years she did not talk much. Baby aunty was not extremely wealthy or educated or very sophisticated in the ways of the world. Yet she was full of love, commitment, loyalty, and faithfulness. I don't know if I have repaid the love I have received from Baby aunty. Perhaps love does not have to be repaid. If you get a chance please listen to Yesudas rendition of maalakhamarude bhashayarinjalum- a song I heard in Baby aunty's house.