For Chembur Periamma

 “Chembur Periamma passed away at 1:45…half hour after lunch. Peacefully.” (19/02/2024)

This is my mother-in-law’s elder sister. Yes, we refer to them by their places of residence as they are 9 siblings and this prefix helps when 3 reside in Mumbai. The rest go by the town’s name. 

She got married at 14 to a man 10 years her senior. Only because his (then) fiancé’s grandmother passed away and the auspicious function would have had to be postponed. He was reluctant to go back to Bombay without a wife after announcing to all his colleagues.

And on her wedding day, her youngest sister (6 months old) tasted rice for the first time (anna-prasanam) & her younger brother (11 years) got his janua (upanayanam)!

I keep thinking of all the womenfolk at home, especially the maternal grandmother (she stayed with her ever-delivering daughter) who would have had to see to all the arrangements for the functions so ‘brilliantly’ conceived to be conducted on the same day by the man of the house.

The organisational skill, cooking, cleaning.. everything.

Periamma joined her husband a year later after she started her menstruation.

She delivered 3 girls.

And in the initial years, all her brothers stayed with her while job hunting and later working in Bombay.

Then she delivered another girl just before her last brother’s marriage. No one was happy. 

There were talks about ‘exchanging’ babies with a pregnant sister if she delivered a boy.

Boy was born, but thankfully, sanity prevailed.

She was an exceptional cook who always had boiled potatoes, cut onions, dosa batter, grated coconut in the fridge. And no one left her home hungry.

She had all the organisational skills of her grandmother.

She was always the centre of her family and I have not seen a closer-knit family than this. 

(I feel an all-girl tribe fosters sibling relation better.)

All her daughters & grandkids took turns to take care of her. One flew every month from Dubai!

BTW, her youngest daughter, the one who would have been ‘exchanged’, is a CA gold medalist.

Periamma’s whole family is filled with achievers.

Chellam periamma lived till 94. 

A brilliantly lived full life. 

(Historical Inputs given by my mother-in-law)