Some things that never change

My great aunts

My wedding day

I just love it when the old family albums full of yellowing pictures are pulled out on a leisurely afternoon. That means the next couple of hours would be filled with stories of our family from long forgotten days. Kiddish antics of people who are grandfathers now, memoirs of our grandfather and his siblings, anecdotes of cricket and football matches where probably the majority of the boys who played are not among us any more, our old Austin 40, our house when the top floor was not yet built (it was built in the early 50s) and of many other fond incidents that have become standing funny stories in our family. Another thing that I like is, looking at the pictures, how easily you can find facial similarities between different generations. There was a great aunt of ours, whom we confused with her daughter as they look exactly the same! Old pictures of my uncle are very similar to those of my tiny toddler niece...that is just amazing!

Bhollu playing keep house

As we are living in the same house ever since 1927, with my nieces as the fifth generation here, there is another thing that makes me warm and fuzzy inside. That is, how in the same house, with the same static things the dynamic flow of life is thriving. At the very place on our terrace where my aunt (Pishimoni) stood in her frock and her hair tied in pigtails, I had my laboratory where filtering muddy water was my greatest passion. Now my niece Bhollu is running around with her red ball and drawing alienish looking animals at the same place. My other niece Pushie was sliding down the stairs one evening. I was about to stop her but then I shook my head and told her mom that I really shouldn't as that was a very amusing thing for me and my cousins to do when we were bored. My uncle commented that they did the same thing too!

The same sweater that Bhollu is wearing!

Bhollu, though a toddler, is very good at conversing. So I end up spending most of my mornings playing with her. If she is in a mood to watch Gummy Bear, then it's different, but otherwise I would play with her on the terrace, help her ride her trike (the same brand as mine was) or draw funny looking sun, moon, stars (wearing shoes), coconut trees with chalk. As I brainstorm to find what kind of games should I play with her, I invariably end up with the same ones that we used to play. Me being the youngest one in my generation, it is so difficult for me to realize that I am now an aunt, and that too not really a very young aunt! When Bhollu asks me to feed her applesauce and oatmeal, or when I tell her "wear your shoes" trying to look as much serious as I can as she runs away in her socks, that realization strikes me. At the same time I realize, even though everything is changing, some things just stay the same to remind us of our roots...and that makes me happy.