Milk Sister
Ammu used to call her Paalechi ("milk sister"). Paal is milk and chechi is sister.
Chechi gets shortened to echi in a loving way. Ammu thinks her name was Kamala, though she is not sure about it. So she was Paalechi, always their Paalechi.
She used to deliver milk twice daily to the houses in the neighborhood.
She had few cows at her home and she used to milk the cows and sell the milk. This was her livelihood.
She used to have 2 bags to cary the milk bottles, one in each hand.
One of those was a plastic basket and other was a cloth bag. The jars were clear glass with metal/plastic lids. Every day when she delivered milk, it was either Ammu's duty her sister's duty to bring the bottle inside, pour the milk in to a container, clean her bottle and bring it back to her. This used to take few minutes.
So, every other day (when it was not Ammu's duty), Ammu used to sit on the front step to chat with Paalechi.
She usually sat in the step below Ammu and used to rest her milk bags beside and she used to let out a big sigh like she was tired.Then they used to chat.
Paalechi in her 40s and Ammu who was 8 or 9(I think it went on from 7 year old Ammu till 12 year old Ammu and that is when we stopped buying milk).
Ammu had so many silly questions for Paalechi and Paalechi had so many silly(sometimes serious) answers to her questions.
Few of those questions were like:
Why was she smelling like milk and cow always(wasn't it obvious?)?
When did she and her cows sleep?
How did she milk a cow?
How was the baby cow fed if all the mom's milk was taken for selling?
Who takes care of her cows when she was not at home?
How much milk does she get from the cows?
How to make butter milk, ghee etc from the milk?
Did she add water in her milk to make her business profitable?
So many honest but silly questions Ammu had and she did learn quite a lot about cows during that time.
Paalechi was very patient and used to answer all the questions in her native tone which was a bit different than what Ammu was used to in that area. (Paalechi was originally from a different region and moved to Ammu's town after her marriage)
Once Paalechi told Ammu that she wished she had 2 cloth bags instead of the plastic bag because the plastic bag was making her hand bleed.
Another time, she told Ammu how much she wanted a baby but god was not kind enough to give her one.
So Ammu promised her that she would goto temple and pray to god to give Paalechi a baby.
Once a while, Paalechi used to bring extra milk for free because her cow had given birth.
Some of those times, Paalechi used be sad because her cow had given birth to a bull instead of a cow(because she won't get milk from a bull)
So Ammu had this question why were human beings happier when they had boys instead of girls but sadder when they had male cows instead of female cows!. Paalchi laughed when she heard it but didn't answer that question.
Paalechi didn't know how to read or write.
So when her nephew from military wrote her letters, she used to bring those letters to Ammu and Ammu's sister used to read those to her.
She used to nod her head and Ammu's sister used to write letters back to her nephew on behalf of her.
When the Sakshartah mission was on peak, Ammu's family offered her to teach her reading and writng but she refused.
However, paalechi could do her math very well.
Every month end, when Ammu's mom used to pay her bills for that month, she was very good in giving back the exact change and it always amused Ammu how could one do math so well but couldn't read/write.
Paalechi is the reason why Ammu can't eat meat of any 4 legged animal. Her parents used to cook/eat cow's meat but after her conversations with paalechi, Ammu couldn't even imagine consuming it.
Paalechi is one of the reasons why Ammu understands how life can be very much simple still people can be happy.
Paalechi is the reason why Ammu understands others pain.
Paalechi is the reason why Ammu realizes we don't have to be of the same age/background/ etc or related by blood to be very close to another person.
Paalechi taught her so much without intention to do so, but Ammu could never realize it until she reached Paalechi's age(To Ammu, Paalechi is still a female in her 40s).
So, thank you Paalechi from the bottom of Ammu's heart. Ammu owes you a lot. She hopes you still have your cows and may be a child of yours too. She hopes you still carry that smile with you. She hopes you got a chance to buy many many cloth bags. She hopes you are living a happy life!
- Ammu
Chechi gets shortened to echi in a loving way. Ammu thinks her name was Kamala, though she is not sure about it. So she was Paalechi, always their Paalechi.
She used to deliver milk twice daily to the houses in the neighborhood.
She had few cows at her home and she used to milk the cows and sell the milk. This was her livelihood.
She used to have 2 bags to cary the milk bottles, one in each hand.
One of those was a plastic basket and other was a cloth bag. The jars were clear glass with metal/plastic lids. Every day when she delivered milk, it was either Ammu's duty her sister's duty to bring the bottle inside, pour the milk in to a container, clean her bottle and bring it back to her. This used to take few minutes.
So, every other day (when it was not Ammu's duty), Ammu used to sit on the front step to chat with Paalechi.
She usually sat in the step below Ammu and used to rest her milk bags beside and she used to let out a big sigh like she was tired.Then they used to chat.
Paalechi in her 40s and Ammu who was 8 or 9(I think it went on from 7 year old Ammu till 12 year old Ammu and that is when we stopped buying milk).
Ammu had so many silly questions for Paalechi and Paalechi had so many silly(sometimes serious) answers to her questions.
Few of those questions were like:
Why was she smelling like milk and cow always(wasn't it obvious?)?
When did she and her cows sleep?
How did she milk a cow?
How was the baby cow fed if all the mom's milk was taken for selling?
Who takes care of her cows when she was not at home?
How much milk does she get from the cows?
How to make butter milk, ghee etc from the milk?
Did she add water in her milk to make her business profitable?
So many honest but silly questions Ammu had and she did learn quite a lot about cows during that time.
Paalechi was very patient and used to answer all the questions in her native tone which was a bit different than what Ammu was used to in that area. (Paalechi was originally from a different region and moved to Ammu's town after her marriage)
Once Paalechi told Ammu that she wished she had 2 cloth bags instead of the plastic bag because the plastic bag was making her hand bleed.
Another time, she told Ammu how much she wanted a baby but god was not kind enough to give her one.
So Ammu promised her that she would goto temple and pray to god to give Paalechi a baby.
Once a while, Paalechi used to bring extra milk for free because her cow had given birth.
Some of those times, Paalechi used be sad because her cow had given birth to a bull instead of a cow(because she won't get milk from a bull)
So Ammu had this question why were human beings happier when they had boys instead of girls but sadder when they had male cows instead of female cows!. Paalchi laughed when she heard it but didn't answer that question.
Paalechi didn't know how to read or write.
So when her nephew from military wrote her letters, she used to bring those letters to Ammu and Ammu's sister used to read those to her.
She used to nod her head and Ammu's sister used to write letters back to her nephew on behalf of her.
When the Sakshartah mission was on peak, Ammu's family offered her to teach her reading and writng but she refused.
However, paalechi could do her math very well.
Every month end, when Ammu's mom used to pay her bills for that month, she was very good in giving back the exact change and it always amused Ammu how could one do math so well but couldn't read/write.
Paalechi is the reason why Ammu can't eat meat of any 4 legged animal. Her parents used to cook/eat cow's meat but after her conversations with paalechi, Ammu couldn't even imagine consuming it.
Paalechi is one of the reasons why Ammu understands how life can be very much simple still people can be happy.
Paalechi is the reason why Ammu understands others pain.
Paalechi is the reason why Ammu realizes we don't have to be of the same age/background/ etc or related by blood to be very close to another person.
Paalechi taught her so much without intention to do so, but Ammu could never realize it until she reached Paalechi's age(To Ammu, Paalechi is still a female in her 40s).
So, thank you Paalechi from the bottom of Ammu's heart. Ammu owes you a lot. She hopes you still have your cows and may be a child of yours too. She hopes you still carry that smile with you. She hopes you got a chance to buy many many cloth bags. She hopes you are living a happy life!
- Ammu
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