JANMA RAHASYAM

Four and half decades ago, on a rainy night, my mother, a full term pregnant, had to wade through hip-deep water for more than two kilometers to the only nursing home functioning in Vadapalani.  (There are half a dozen corporate hospitals in the locality now, but those days, things were very different).  Later I learnt that the lady who ran the nursing home was not a qualified physician, but a quack, who delivered/terminated pregnancies of unwed mothers.  When my mother got admitted into the hospital, the doctor was not present.  Since my parents were legally wedded and my mother had no intention of terminating the pregnancy, the doctor probably felt that her presence was not required.  There was just one nurse present at the nursing home, when I was born.  Since my mother was completely drenched in rain, I was born sneezing and my mother was very scared that I would die sneezing.  But I survived.

I was born exactly the same year, (the Hindu lunar calendar has a cycle of 60 years) same month and date of my maternal grandmother and if I were born a few minutes later, the star too would have been the same.  My parents decided to name me after my grandmother.  Since two of my cousins were named Charumati and Charulata before me, my parents named me Charusree. (Surprisingly, everyone in my house has a namesake in the extended family)  My sister has many namesakes and she was very annoyed that I was given a rare name and she a common one and at one point of time, we even planned to exchange our names.

Though my mother and some of her relatives believed that I am a reincarnation of my maternal grandmother, my mother is so naïve that she never tried to hide her disappointment about my resemblance to my paternal grandmother.  Many times she has told me that, when I was born, I looked exactly like my paternal grandmother in her deathbed.  She of course says that my generosity, broadmindedness and inclusiveness are all her mother’s traits.

I am told I started speaking very early.  In fact, I started singing even before I started speaking.  When I was about ten months old, my mother was shocked to hear me sing a lullaby (uyyala, jampala to be specific).

Even as a child, I did not relish sweets and this was discovered by a neighbor, in whose house I spent considerable time.  I did not like being spoon-fed and demanded that food was served in a plate and I was allowed to eat it myself.  My people say I used to take a long time to finish eating and I picked and ate like a monkey.

My mother says I argued a lot even as a kid and when I was about two or three years old, my mother served me an ‘instant dosa’, which I refused to eat, stating that I had not seen her grind batter for dosa and my mother says “puvvu puttagAnE parimaListundi” – meaning a flower emanates fragrance soon after it blossoms, referring to my shrewdness.