We are 6 cousins, who have grown up together for the most part. SP at 26, is the oldest of the bunch. We were told that he was born to my uncle and aunt after several years of marriage had passed, in a time when it was not acceptable to society, headed by my Dadi (grandmother) to be married for more than 11 months and not have a baby. So after SP happened, heaven was flooded with thank you notes. And it may put me in trouble, but owing largely to his late arrival, he was pampered by his parents and the other 2 couples in the family as well (my parents and my other uncle and aunt)and hence has grown up into a slightly spoilt brat.
After SP, an annual childbirth-practice started in my family, that would have translated to hefty taxes had we been in China today. First in line of these successive births was my brother Ramu. Now, legend has it that Dadi was very pleased on having 2 grandsons and is rumoured to have said something to the order of "Mere kaar kudiyaan kaddi wi na ho sakdiyaan", which means that she only wanted sons for her sons. God was maybe listening at that unfortunate moment for the successive children were all girls.
Rads was born after a year of Ramu to SP's folks. There job was done and the spotlight turned on my parents who dutifully delivered ME the next year.
It was not a very happy time for the Dadi's youngest son and his wife (i.e. my uncle and aunt) when Monu came 1 year later. They were naturally elated on being parents but Dadi was adding 2 and 2 and maybe realizing there is more daughters than sons. And when the youngest came after a gap of 4 years and came as Sonu- a girl, Dadi was quite unhappy.
But it all turned OK after a while, which brings us to the present. The reason this post is soooo PINK is because it sits well with the Punjabi shaadi- flashy, loud and insane.
2 comments:
It was an entertaining read albeit khandaan ki secrets are out! It does paint a rather one-sided male-child loving idea of an Indian Dadi. This is in stark contrast to my personal experiences of growing up as a girl. My Dada and Dadi treated us (girls) with so much more partial love than our male cousins because in their eyes, 'munde te kuchhh kam de nahin honde'. So Yahoo to us!!!
Heh... Very true! In fact, Dadi also changed her mind and adapted to the same school of thought. In fact, I am almost sure I have heard her say the exact same thing during the family dinners when both the boys would sit in one of the rooms and refuse to participate in family conversations. Plus, we watched all the serials with her too! :D
Post a Comment