A Piggyback Ride to Remember

  Back in the days, lunchtime on Sundays after Catechism classes would be the time for Smrithilayam on Dooradarshan; half an hour of nostalgic Malayalam music. Although this show didn’t particularly excite me; given that we didn’t have the unlimited choices with cable connection, I would still half heartedly watch it. Deechechi and I would sometimes pick  a song for roleplay that we could enact in our own little ways. As always, Deechechi would assign the roles, and usually she was the super hero and I was either the villain or the side kick. One song that we  particularly loved was  Thappukuttampuram Thavidukuttamparam which we both thought would be a perfect fit for performing. In this song a little girl is the central character as she is is showered with love while being given a piggy back ride by a bunch of family members. I  felt very excited and quite important; for finally getting the role of the main character and also for having to go on a piggy back ride. After many attempts with me climbing on the sofa and then jumping on to Deechechi’s back,  she finally said that I was not doing it right and decided to abort the play. I was so disappointed.  As you remember, I  was a mini-drama queen  back then and  Amma used to call me 'complaint box'. So,  I ran to  Amma and you to pour my heart out. You were both outside in the driveway talking to John uncle and a few of your other friends.   With tears running down my cheeks, I told you both what happened. I still believe that a Holy Angel must have descended on you that day; you surprisingly offered me a piggy back ride. I happily climbed on your shoulders and wrapped my legs around your waist and arms around your neck. I stayed there for almost half an hour as  you continued your light evening walk with with Amma. I felt just as proud and happy as the little girl in the song.

As a little girl many times I have yearned for more physical and verbal affirmations of love from you. I remember telling Amma once to ask you to call me mole once in a while instead of edi Jyotee.  But as I have grown older and may be a bit wiser, I have realized that love can be expressed in many different ways. From  meticulously ironing out all my uniforms and salwars through school and college, carefully filling out all the entrance application forms, driving / taking me to all important exams from SSLC, medical entrance exams and USMLEs, cooking countless delicious dishes, tirelessly washing all my pumping bottles during residency and most importantly taking care of Danichan and Emmanu like your own- you have  expressed your love and affection in a million other ways.

PS. I still maintain that you were a bit too strict and I prefer  the mellow version  I see you switch to when you are with your colleagues.