My Ammachi

This blog is a summary of my experiences, memories and inspirations that I got my from Ammachi [maternal grand mother]. I got to learn all this during the many vacations that I spent with her.

Of the many grandchildren, I am the first grand-daughter of my Ammachi and Thatha; she made me feel proud of this fact on occasions more than once. She always made me feel as her favorite. I still remember – on the first day of each my numerous visits she would welcome me with her warmth, love and affection. She would pat me on my cheeks, and would put her arm around my shoulders.

In my younger days, my sole purpose of visiting my Ammachi’s place was to escape the school routine; I would play and enjoy all day. I would remember my Ammachi only for food and sleep. I would not lend my ear to her advice or what she had to say. Gradually, I started listening to her instructions, attending to her chores, and before long I was spending my full time with her. This was the time I came to know about my Ammachi.

I would always sleep with her in the same room. My Ammachi was an early riser; each early morning she would wake and ask me to sleep in the adjoining room. She would understand that I being a child, and it being my vacation, I wanted to sleep more. Once I got up she won’t allow me sit idle. She would ask me to do comb my hair; she liked combing and I too loved to have a plait done by her. Another instance - whenever I sat on the floor, she would remind me to sit on the mat. This habit stayed with me, and even during later visits to my Ammachi’s home, I used a mat.

I don’t have any one word to describe her cooking. She would plan to the finest of the details. As a child, I was never bored with her cooking; probably she had a long list of recipes, and she seldom repeated the same menu – maybe that was her style. Best of all, given an impromtu situation, she was experienced enough to come up with a recipe instantly, and with the limited ingredients she had at that moment. Her chutney [especially the poond-chutney] with idly, rasam, more-kuzhumbu, adai – were all my favorites. I still rank her kambu-sadham as the best. I vivdly remember – one day I was helping her in the kitchen. As she was preparing puli-kachal, she tasted it a little then she felt that it was a bit too spicy. Immediately, she came up with a solution: she fried some methi seeds and red chillies and added that to the puli-kachal with some salt. The end result was indeed very good. I was impressed.

We all had something or the other to learn from her house management techniques. She had a very big family to look after. It was mostly during the summer vacations that we all got to meet together at her place. At that time I remember no one was in lack of a pillow or mat or towel or bed sheet or tumbler or simply anything. After each vacation she would clean and pack each and everything and keep it ready for the next occasion. Her grocery collection was also amazing. Today whenever I spoil some grocery, I could not help but wonder how she managed to keep all the grocery afresh – especially for such a big family.

She was proud to be one of the few English educated ladies of her time. She would sing her schools songs to her grandkids – all from her memory. She also taught me some devotional songs.

She was a hard worker; she managed to keep up the interest in the daily chores. Cooking, cleaning, buying and arranging things - how could she do this continuously without a break? These days I get bored preparing meals, so we tend to eat out often. But when I think about her, I feel she was great.

She took very good care of my thatha. I felt that my thatha was very lucky to have my Ammachi as his wife. During my thatha’s aged days, he would forget to oil his hair, Ammachi would relentlessly apply oil. I felt such moments were some of the best romantic scenes.

One had to appreciate my Ammachi’s approach, generosity and sharing nature. Anything that she prepared, she would ensure to share it with everybody. I have often noticed her keeping prepared recipes separately for her maid, Sampooranam.

I have also observed that my Ammachi was very close to her siblings. Even during their aged days, and having spent entire lives not living together, yet somehow they all had a very strong bonding.

I now miss my Ammachi.