Deepa aur Shabnam (and Kunhimema)

They are women at the creche.

Deepa reminds me of Kunhi mema, my mother's younger sister. Both of them look very similar (Ok, Kunhimema looks much smaller now-- really true to her name-- she has shrunk over years) and both have a deep sadness written on their face. Even the clothes Deepa wears remind me of mema.

Or may be everyone who goes through such hardships look the same. I don't know about Deepa, but I have grown up seeing different stages of my mema's life.

Singing romantic film songs ("Devathaaru poothu..") in her teens, with some sadness in it even then;
Taking us to the Kasturba Gram and issuing children's books for us from the library for us;
Her marriage (we really celebrated that one, I can't remember any other wedding as much);
Eating pork at her place (it was yummy!)
Her husband (he became our pappan) who used to run a mini van and later a Toddy shop;
Going for a Mohanlal-Priyadarshan comedy film with the newlyweds;
Having rabbit's meat at pappan's shop once;
Playing with their children Sreekanth and Sreejith;
Pappan dying of heart attack young;
Mema carrying the family on her shoulders..

She knit flowers to make garlands for god at a temple in the morning,
Worked as a peon at a bank;
Later she lost that temporary job and went to a bakery (after the garlands were made)..
Her body shrunk in the process.
She developed pains in her body, was admitted to hospital once or twice;
Doctors asked her to take rest but she could not afford it;
She takes medicines.. but she hasn't given up.
She goes on.

She cries well-- One funda of her life is that when you're at a house where someone has dead, you should really cry loud, and it would make the people there feel good :)
(She did that at her marriage also, like many other girls, to make her parents feel good).

Ok this has already become so long.. I'll write about Shabnam (and things/feelings/people I associate with her) in another post, hopefully sometime soon.