My Mom has as far as memory serves me never wanted her birthday celebrated. But this year, she did. I guess it was the nostalgia of Dad having had his 75th birthday celebrated. And she wanted it to do it at home. A small private party. With the kids and grand-kids. And during the celebrations, I realized something I had missed all these years. She was an amazing woman. And had achieved so much. None of it visible.
Although she did not ever have the privilege of going to college, even though her Dad was a teacher. In her time, women didn’t go to college. They were married off. She was married at the tender age of 19. And I was born 1 year later. When she was just 20. And then had 4 kids. As was the norm those days. She managed to raise all of us and give us a good education. Although we never had too much money, she managed. And kept accounts. Her favorite accounting term for discrepancy was “Here and There”.
At school, we never felt we lacked anything. Although she did not know too much of our studies, she managed to learn and teach us. Subjects that were Greek to her. Hindi, Maths, Science, ... She even wrote the entrance exam paper for Don, during his school entrance when he was 4. And attended the school PTA’s. And between the 4 of us, she had enough teachers and complaints to deal with. And she managed it all, with a smile. I can’t ever remember Mom without her warm and radiant smile. I’m sure that she would have had her sad moments, but she managed not to show them.
One thing she was very clear from the beginning was to have a home of her own. It wasn’t easy because Mumbai was relatively expensive, even then. And builders wanted 50% black money. Black money is basically Cash and is unaccounted. My dad didn’t have white money, getting black money was an impossible thing. And then came the infamous Emergency in 1971. And it was for the first time in India that builders could no longer buy the law and were scared. Black money transactions suddenly reduced. It was possible to get a flat. With accounted money.
And my parents seized the opportunity. They quickly located a flat in Colaba, and it was to be the tallest residential building not only in Mumbai, but India. The cost, a princely Rs. 185,000. Dad who was with the Taj Group was sanctioned a loan of around Rs. 120,000. He had some savings and sold all the shares he held to raise the rest. In fact, we wanted a house on the 29th floor, but it cost Rs. 15,000 more and we just couldn’t stretch that far. So we settled for the 4th floor.
Now there was a 2nd problem. Dad’s company had kindly given him the loan, but the EMI deduction meant we had little money left. 4 kids still needed to be fed, sent to school and various other issues. My Mom had a solution for everything. Paying Guests. We kept 2 bachelors who also worked at the Taj and paid Rs. 1000. And this got us through. And after 2 years we were okay. But Mom and Dad refused to ask the paying guests to leave. Until they got transferred. Today the house is worth Rs. 30 million. But that is of no consequence, compared to the joy and happiness it gave us when we grew up. As a family.
And that is priceless.
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