My weekly Slice of Life are my letters to my Doddamma. She is my father’s elder brother’s wife. Doddamma literally means ‘elder mother’. She is 88 years old. She cannot hear properly if I telephone to talk to her. So, I have been writing letters to her since October 2017. I enjoy writing letters and she is happy to read them. They are only about the everyday moments in my life. I post my letters to her every week.
3-12-10
We are experiencing very cloudy days since the 1st morning. It has also been raining, not heavily but it is raining. Last year there had been no rains after September till July. The weather has been very strange this year. Sunday evening we wanted to go to the beach but it was raining. The Arabian sea is about 10kms from home. We did not go there during the monsoon season. I have always liked to look at the waves and the different moods of the sea.
My husband went to our village today morning to spend a day with his father. He goes by bus and it takes almost three hours. We go by car when all of us are going together. My father-in-law used to share his memories of those long ago days. Life moved at a very slow pace then and there were very few changes. Then, society and community were more important than individuals. People had to conform to the norms of the society. I have just completed a fascinating book called The Other Face by Na Mogasale in Kannada. I read the English translation. This is the story of the people of our community, Havyaka Brahmins, and covers about 150 years. It tells us so much about the social, religious and political conditions of those times. I could relate so much to the story because I was reminded of all that my father-in-law had told me.
Yesterday afternoon, I went to Asare. Today is World Disability day and there is a whole day programme in our town today. Six members were practising a dance for today. They enjoy dancing.
Many a time I feel life goes on in parallel levels every day. Here I am writing and somewhere else something else is happening. These thoughts came to mind because a few nights ago a young veterinary doctor was raped by four men and killed and burnt in the neighbouring state. It is really tragic. I kept thinking that I was enjoying a book where elsewhere a girl was being tortured. I know there is nothing we can do about it. But it hurts. I did not write this to my doddamma, she would have read it in the paper. A friend was telling me that rapists should be punished in such a way that they should beg for death to release them. All this is wishful thinking.
I feel that life is very kind to us. Of course, there are problems but they are nothing compared to the problems faced by so many. There is so much suffering in their lives. These thoughts come to mind during our evening walks. Watching the birds or the clouds and the trees and the sun setting calms the mind and the heart.
“Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havyaka_Brahmin
https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/saga-of-a-community-and-nation/article7329481.ece
Mukhamani 
Comments are welcome :)