Chapter Twenty
Addendum
The story of the Kottathala Warriem should have ended here but along with the new marriage there were more additions to the extended family. Sarala and Achu had moved to their own home in Vile Parle and Amma now lived with them. Soon both Sarala and I were pregnant, and I was not too well during the pregnancy. Appukuttan did not think it was necessary, but I insisted and got Amma to stay with us after Sarala went back to her mother’s home for her delivery. Amma’s decoctions of herbal potions and health foods were an important part of my pregnancy. On the 25th of March 1968 Achu and Sarala’s dream child, Swapna was born. On the same day of the following month, my second daughter Bilu was born. That morning, Appukuttan was getting ready to leave for office at around 8:15 when I told Amma that I could feel the labour pains. Amma stopped Appukuttan and asked him not to go to work that day. She asked if he could organise a vehicle. Of course, he was not game. Instead, he said, “I’m with her and I will walk her to the hospital.” I was given instructions to squeeze his hand as tight as I wished when in pain and if the need really arose, he promised to carry me the rest of the way.
Thankfully, that wasn’t necessary. Almost as soon as we reached the hospital, I delivered the baby. There was just enough time to be readied for the delivery. Bilu was born in one go and came out along with the water bag. The doctor commented on her eagerness and prophesied that she’d be a sports woman someday. Amma happened to reach in time to be in the labour room for the delivery. Appukuttan had stepped out to buy medicines, by the time he returned, the baby had already arrived.
There’s an interesting tale behind Bilu’s name. Appukuttan had just read a story in the monthly Malayalam magazine Matrubhoomi, translated from Bengali. This serial story featured Bilu Chettathi, a social worker, who was the wife of the protagonist Dev. In this narrative, during the Great famine in Bengal when there was an outbreak of plague, Bilu Chettathi offers her husband all her gold to treat and feed the hungry and the needy. This impressed Appukuttan enough to decide that his newborn child should be named Bilu. He of course was convinced that we would only have daughters. Vineeta’s name had also been chosen by Appukuttan unilaterally. He had known then that it’d be a girl. In any case he had decided that if by any chance the first child was a boy, he’d be named Vineet, else it’d be Vineeta.
Actually, Appukuttan had always been against the idea of having a second child. Amma however felt that a child needed a sibling and that it was important to have another baby. That was how Bilu was born. She was a tall baby and weighed 4 kgs. Amma was overjoyed with the new arrival. Having had some years of service behind us, we could hire a maid to help with bathing Bilu and me. I was also entitled to three months maternity leave after which I took two months of paid leave, which I had saved for this time. Actually, I had four months of half-pay leave, which I compressed into 2 months, so the entire period was paid maternity leave for me. It was a blessing to have Amma with me and I returned to work after 5 months of the delivery.
Over time, Bilu became increasingly naughty and Amma commented on how she had never seen such a naughty child before. Soon Amma had to move as Subhadra was pregnant again. Subhadra’s first pregnancy had ended with her giving birth to a weak baby and the child had died a few days after he was born. This time Amma went and stayed with her throughout her pregnancy. This meant that Bilu was now unattended and Appukuttan decided that she should be sent to Kerala and left with his two older sisters there who were at home anyway. His reasoning was that this would allow us to help his sisters financially as well. Vineeta was then 5 years old and had started school and didn’t need the same kind of nursing that her younger sibling needed.
I didn’t like the idea of sending Bilu away but Appukuttan was adamant. It reached the point where he insisted that I either quit my job and look after the baby or Bilu be sent to the village. I knew I could not give up a good government job of 11 years standing. In early 1971 with a heavy heart, we left Vineeta with Radha and took Bilu to the village, leaving her with her aunts there. I was saddened by this and for many months I’d cry over this during my lunch break. I didn’t dare talk about it with Appukuttan though. His take was that if she was brought up here in Bombay by maids, they would drink the milk kept for her and deprive her of the necessary nutrition. In the village she would get the care of two aunts, good food and fresh air.
Bilu stayed in Trichur till she was nine. That was around eight years of her early life where she studied in Malayalam. This meant that when we brought her back to Bombay, she could not get admission to secondary school, since she had not studied Marathi, the regional language here. Sathi volunteered to take her in, despite her having four children of her own. There was a school in Mulund, near Sathi’s home, which offered Malayalam as a subject. Strangely, this was the last year that the subject was being offered and it must have been destined because Bilu got admission there and in that one year was able, with the help of some private lessons, to learn both Marathi and English well enough to join an English medium school in Borivali. This transition period of one year helped her to adapt. Both my girls are very intelligent and were sharp and quick learners. After Vineeta wrote her SSC exam in 1979, we moved residence from O1 and came to an apartment in Borivali East. Our move was doubly significant as it coincided with Bilu’s return. Vineeta joined college and Bilu was in middle school. The sisters finally got to know and bond with each other and spend time together. The New Colony house was now officially closed though it remains in the family still.
Amma passed away in 1976. By then Vallyettan had three children, of which his eldest daughter was married and pregnant at that time. Chechi’s two daughters had grown into pretty young ladies. Kochettan had quit the army and moved to Bombay. He had three children, with one more to come a couple of years later. My children were twelve and seven. Achu had two kids, the daughter being seven and their son, all of two years old when Amma died. Subhadra had two boys aged six and two. Radha who had married before most of us, had older children, both girls aged thirteen and ten respectively.
On the 16thof June 1976 Amma passed away in her home at Kottathala and this is how this story ends. She died knowing that her children were happy with their families and everyone was doing well for themselves. This big family tree, which had put down roots and been lovingly nurtured by Amma, today continues to bloom and grow. And Amma occupies a permanent place in all our hearts.