“Amma, AMMA, when
will this Thatha go back?”, whined my 10-year old daughter Megha. She was referring to my Father’s elder brother, Venkutu Peripa, who was
visiting us for a while. I quietly asked
her, “Why Megs, what is the problem?”
Megha immediately started her tirade. “Oh God, he is so
irritating! He always has something to
say about everything! And not just that, he has to justify everything with a
proverb! I am sick and tired of
listening to him Amma.”
I cajoled her gently,” Common Megs, he is not that bad. He has his
quirks, but he means well.”
Megs continued her rant. “He makes me MAD. The other day,
you asked me to finish my homework and I didn’t. You were upset when you found out. Venkutu
Thatha mockingly said ‘Spare the rod
and spoil the child.’ It is only
homework, why should you beat me for not doing it?”
I explained calmly, “Well Megs, it might be just a small bit
of homework that you missed. But Thatha
wanted to ensure that it did not become a habit…you need to be disciplined so
that you don’t lose out on the important stuff in life.”
Megha smirked and continued, “He embarrassed me when my friends came home. Siri and Puja were here last week. Thatha had to butt in and talk to them. He gave a lecture on the importance of being punctual and doing our chores on time And ofcourse, he used a proverb – A Stitch in time saves nine. UGGHH!!”
Just then, Varsha walked in and heard her younger sister’s
angry narration. She jumped into the
conversation and shared her tale of woe. “Listen Amma, you need to book
Thatha’s return tickets quickly. He is a
royal pain.”
I reprimanded Varsha, “No Varsha, that is no way to
talk. He is an elderly man and has
experienced so much of life. He is just
trying to help us all by sharing his experiences and making us see what is
right and what is wrong. Don’t be rude.”
Varsha countered, ”Ok, sorry. But do you know what he did?
You asked me to clean my room but I kept postponing it. I finally did it when Anju was coming in
for a sleep-over. He was so astonished
that a friend should actually stay back with us. And derisively said, ‘in our times, we had
enough cousins who stayed with us. We didn’t need friends.’ What is his problem? And seeing me clean the room, he told Appa in
Tamil – ‘Vennumna veraliyum kaykum, vendatta koppilayum Kaykadha.’ What do you think he meant?”
I hid my smile and said, “It just means - where there is a
will, there is a way.”
Varsha angrily said, “NO, it is not just that. I asked Appa the meaning and he told me. It
means that a tree can bear fruit even in its roots if it really wants to. But if the same tree does not desire, it will
not bear fruits even in its branches. So what Thatha insinuated was that I cleaned
my room only because I had a motive; I would
not have done it otherwise. What a mean thing to say!“
I thought to myself “Oh, how absolutely right is your
Thatha!” But then, didn’t tell it aloud for fear of inciting the girls further
- they were already in quite a rage. So
I said placatingly,” Girls, bear with him for a few more days. Thatha will be
going back to Madras next week.“
A couple of days later, Varsha and Megha were playing a game
of Subway Surfers on the iPad. They were
playing in turns, laughing boisterously and having fun. Venkutu Peripa watched them keenly and then asked
hesitantly, “Girls, why don’t you teach me how to play this game. I too would like to try. Seems to be fun.”
The girls were surprised at Thatha’s sudden enthusiasm for
the game and decided to oblige him.
Varsha said, “Okay Thatha, this policeman is trying to catch you. You have to run away from him. There will be several obstacles in the way.
You can jump, move to the left or right.
To jump over, you swipe with your finger and use the arrow keys to move left
or right. You should also catch as many
of the gold coins as you can – they keep floating in your path. The more coins you have, higher will be your
score.”
Megha piped in, “Don’t let the policeman catch you. If he does, the game is over.”
Varsha handed over the iPad to Venkutu Thatha and asked him
to play the game. He adjusted his
glasses, and tried diligently, but just as the game started, he immediately got
caught by the policeman. This went on
for several minutes but Venkutu Thatha could not get the hang of playing the
game.
He said, “Sorry girls, I don’t think I can do this.” Varsha and Megha were waiting for such a
situation. Megha said, “But Thatha,
didn’t you tell us ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’ – what happened now?
And Varsha, with a twinkle in her eye added, “Thatha, maybe
we can’t teach an old dog, new tricks!”
The girls, sporting broad grins, looked across at me. They had the gloating look of a warrior who had exacted his revenge!
Note: all images have been sourced from the internet
