My dream girl
She is not just my girl Friday but she is my girl every other day of the week, has been for seven years. She is my right hand. She is a dream (Sapana) help that you hope for, especially if you are juggling your family and career.
Her frail short figure confidently stood answering the questions put to her seven years back. Appearing just a few years older than my son, she appeared a kid herself. She would barely be able to reach the platform let alone cook was what I was thinking when the string of black beads caught my eye! “Are you married” I asked? “Just a month ago” she replied! Just as I was thinking of child labor, child marriage joined the thoughts as well. “How old are you” I asked and “eighteen” came the pat reply! “What proof do you have”? I asked. “I am married” she said! I decided to take for her words. May or may not be an expert t cooking, I thought but the girl definitely was sharp and smart with a good presence of mind. “You are hired” I said knowing what to expect. Blessing in disguise I thought, can imprint my style of cooking on her blank slate! With the mundane so called mutual settlement of the wages we began our foray into the culinary world.
Her blank epicurean slate stared at me as she fumbled through the chores. It did not require rocket science to gauge that there was a humongous feat ahead to give ‘paid’ cookery classes!! Much better than the rigid clay that refuses to budge was my rationalizing thought. And flexible is what she turned out to be.
She made mistakes (what were mistake anyway? Mistakes were those that were not my way!!) but never same twice. Neither did she ever retaliate if fallacies in her work were pointed out. She would on occasions ask to be taught many things that were not part of her job. She was ever ready to listen and grasp the tips. I could see her applying them the next time. She had to quit her education post marriage. With a drunk vagabond as her husband she needed to earn and so school was out of question. She would often take books from me to read. I could see her grow along all the parameters, age, wisdom, finance, experience yes and also ambition! The pieces of gold that she adorned went on increasing steadily. “Why do you buy so many gold ornaments”? I asked. “They will come of use as I buy my own place” she said. With the present boom in gold prices she enquired whether she should sell her gold now and free her money? I was taken aback by her wisdom ! She did several courses in beauty treatments and earns her extra income from beauty treatments. She did government run small scale industry promotion courses in making jams, jellies and pickles and now makes and markets them as per demand.
Just as her earnings increased she wanted to open a saving’s account to hide and multiply her savings from violently demanding husband. When she handed me the pan card with other documents to open the account, I was floored! I hugged her proudly and offered her a prize for her financial savvy ness. When she asked for books as her prize I was really stunned!! She could have asked for so many things given a chance, dresses, accessories, cosmetics, furnishings but instantly she asked for books.
She is not just my ‘Sapana’ now but a proud mother of a toddler. An expecting mother who took biographies from me to read because, wanted a courageous child. She also named him ‘Shourya’ which means courage. She often takes homoeopathy for herself and her child. She has not required a constitutional medicine as yet (and I hope she does not require soon) but when she does require, I will give her………………SILICA!
