The December Deluge

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

Raghu stood all dressed and ready  to go to his native place. He looked older than his eight years in the trousers, leather jacket and cap. These were gifts from his uncle whom he called lovingly Tanmama. His uncle liked the name much more than his original name Tanmay. Raghu was  a favourite in his maternal home as he was the eldest grandson. At the age of eight, it looked as if he was eighteen in mellowness. His mother had recently joined a beauty parlour as an assistant to the well known beautician Kalpana in the main bazaar. It meant a lot of drudgery along with the long working hours. Raghu never minded her absence as he was grown-up enough to appreciate the need of money owing to his admittance in one of the best schools in Pune. Raghu was sincere and a great help to his parents yet his mother Geetha missed being with Raghu as she believed that it was a great sin to leave the child alone at home during holidays. During weekdays, Raghu was occupied with his homework and then would hustle out to play with his friends. His father would come back by six to usher Raghu towards home. But holidays meant long absence of both the parents and it unduly perturbed his mother making her feel it was best to leave the child at Chennai with her mother. 

Raghu loved his extended family. He was very popular in the neighbourhood.  Consequently, Raghu reached Chennai for Diwali. It was a wet Chennai that welcomed him, yet he enjoyed being with his family and friends. Grandmother Ammini actually belonged to Kerala but had made Chennai a place to retire after her husband left her a few years back due to a massive heart attack. She had moved to Ram Nagar in Chennai as a young bride. The neighbours began calling her Amminiakka as she grew older. Raghu’s mother was her only daughter. She had two more sons who stayed close by. Ammini lived on her own, she was industrious and worked hard throughout the year, making pickles and papad for the people in Ram Nagar. It was a small business, but gave her the satisfaction of leading life well. Raghu’s visit added a richness in her busy life as special food was cooked, friends and family visited her, and there was gaiety displaying high spirits.  This visit too had brought fervour and festivity as Diwali was at the doorstep. His Tanmama visited as often as possible to pamper Raghu. Tanmama’s petite wife was a rich lady who disliked Ammini and so rarely visited them. Tanmama saddled his little three year old daughter as often as possible. The girl would follow Ammini through out the day making Raghu a little jealous but Ammini had the charm to entice kids and her perpetual smile made her  doubly attractive.

One of the days it poured heavily. Ammini and Raghu spent the time together. They played childish games in the morning, ate hot delicacies like vada and paysam and grew closer to one another. They stood near the window and watched the rain lash the houses and a few trees in the area. The plastered road made the pitter-patter sound and thunder roared. Ammini was happy to have Raghu with her. She was never perturbed of rain, she was a brave lady, but Raghu missed his father Aditya who was  brave and adventurous, he missed the loving arm of his mother yet his maturity taught him to empathize his lonely grandmother. He missed his friends around. He hung on the window and called his friend in the opposite house. They laughed and talked through the closed grill doors, Ammini and the old lady in the opposite house too spoke about their well beings. Ammini wondered why she had never tried talking to her across the closed grills for so many years. The next day the weather improved and Raghu resumed his usual routine. Days passed quickly and Raghu returned back to Pune a day before his school reopened.

On reaching back, he was busy with his school assignments and studies. Ammini remained in his thoughts yet the schedule helped him overcome his thoughts.  Now when he called Ammini it was just a hello or whereabouts of his friends in Chennai. One night, in the first week of December he saw pictures of heavy rains in Chennai. Raghu felt it would stop and become sunny like the last time, but rains continued to lash the city. He called Tanmama who said that he would be visiting Ammini the next day. The next morning he saw the pictures of a submerged Chennai on the television. Raghu wondered how his grandmother was dealing with things all alone. He had spoken her the previous night, but sentences like “Water bodies breached their banks in areas like Ambattur and Tambaram. Around 80 marooned people were rescued in Tambaram with the help of two boats” perturbed Raghu. In the morning the news showed a power failure and the contact with people was lost.

Ammini remained unperturbed as she knew that one of her children would come to see her for sure, but the rains had blocked all the roads leaving Tanmama helpless. Ammini’s other son was on an official tour away from Chennai. Ammini looked desperately at the sky, during the night the walls had grown damp and there were leaks here and there, water had seeped into the house and now she had to swish through it. She had gathered her belongings and placed it high up yet the speed at which water had begun logging inside the house made her gather all the goodies as she felt her belongings were meagre and could be bought again but food needed to be shared. She gathered courage and made her way dripping through the rain to her friend across the street who lived in a flat. Her friend Ramini was older than her and  affluent, she would spend time through a strictly formed routine yet was lonely in life. Ramini initially knew Ammini through her homemade pickles but later became a good friend owing to their close walks in life.  

Ramini was more than happy to receive Ammini. The flat was uphill and the rainwater had not entered the building. Together they chatted, ate, gathered news and tried to help others. Little Raghu unaware of all these felt miserable, he felt he should have been with Ammini then. At last, it was only when communication was established he could talk to Ammini. Raghu wept as he spoke to Ammini as his love for her was greater than everything else in the world while Ammini wept at the other end thanking God for creating the feeling of being wanted, being vital for someone in this world.

 There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough..” ― Nicholas Sparks,