If you have watched Downton Abbey and admired countess Grantham, then I will describe my Kollu paati as a countess in madisar. My first memory of my kollu paati was when I visited my uncle in his railway quarters in Matunga and I saw a granny like lady coming out of thin air and scaring the shit out of my cousin. And I realized it was a prank and got introduced to the Kollu paati or Shenkottai paati as she was called, because Shenkottai was her town (her adda :).
From then on I always knew when she was around because of the obedience she demanded from the grown ups around me. There was a time when she slapped my daddy's hand during dinner because my dad ignored pathu rules (practice of segregating cooked and uncooked food in rural Tamil Nadu).
Being in her good books was a brownie point because of the same reason mentioned above. However, as we Kollu pethis (great grand daughters) grew up, we knew that we will never be in her good books because she was from a different era. An era where girls cannot do this, they cannot do that, and most of all they have the least order of importance in anything from a tasting freshly made mysore pak and even worse the job of cleaning dinner area after everyone has eaten. We pethis had an agenda against her and I remember one of my cousin who would get so angry that she would get into a squabble with paati almost everyday and get lectured from all the moms:). We had to calm her down so that she doesn't get into trouble.
But kollu paati was smart. She knew how to make amends. Her style of asking was to clap hands (to seek attention) and then asking what she wants like a glass of water or something. So she will get her pack of playing cards, clap her hands and call us children for a game of rummy. Then peace would return to our humble abode... temporarily.
But then there is a twist here. Out of all the grownups there was one person who disregarded her. And if you are a woman, you got the answer! Yes it was her daughter in law, her eldest. They both had such a huge tiff that her daughter in law made sure that Kollu paati doesn't say with her and so her daughters took care of her until she expired.
I, like the other grand daughters had a love hate relationship with her but she definitely made me fall in love with rummy! And I fondly remember her for her countess style sarcasms in Tamil and the command she had from all her grand children and great grand children. We were like her tribe and she was successful in keeping us together.
From then on I always knew when she was around because of the obedience she demanded from the grown ups around me. There was a time when she slapped my daddy's hand during dinner because my dad ignored pathu rules (practice of segregating cooked and uncooked food in rural Tamil Nadu).
Being in her good books was a brownie point because of the same reason mentioned above. However, as we Kollu pethis (great grand daughters) grew up, we knew that we will never be in her good books because she was from a different era. An era where girls cannot do this, they cannot do that, and most of all they have the least order of importance in anything from a tasting freshly made mysore pak and even worse the job of cleaning dinner area after everyone has eaten. We pethis had an agenda against her and I remember one of my cousin who would get so angry that she would get into a squabble with paati almost everyday and get lectured from all the moms:). We had to calm her down so that she doesn't get into trouble.
But kollu paati was smart. She knew how to make amends. Her style of asking was to clap hands (to seek attention) and then asking what she wants like a glass of water or something. So she will get her pack of playing cards, clap her hands and call us children for a game of rummy. Then peace would return to our humble abode... temporarily.
But then there is a twist here. Out of all the grownups there was one person who disregarded her. And if you are a woman, you got the answer! Yes it was her daughter in law, her eldest. They both had such a huge tiff that her daughter in law made sure that Kollu paati doesn't say with her and so her daughters took care of her until she expired.
I, like the other grand daughters had a love hate relationship with her but she definitely made me fall in love with rummy! And I fondly remember her for her countess style sarcasms in Tamil and the command she had from all her grand children and great grand children. We were like her tribe and she was successful in keeping us together.
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