Here's one really really old memory: Dada and I had a bedtime routine when we were kids. I have no idea how it started, but every so often, once we were tucked into bed, we would have a Q&A session, which would go something like this... (we would talk in Bengali, but the English translation is in italics):
Mini: Dada, tui ghoomachchhish? Are you sleeping?
(Yes yes, I do realize that is a silly question to ask, but hey, we were kids.)
Bozo: Na. No
Mini: Tui kaalke aamaar shonge khelbi? Will you play with me tomorrow?
Bozo: Hain. Yes
(I am pretty sure there were a couple of other questions after this one, but I can't really remember them.)
Mini: Tui aamaake bhaalo baashish? Do you love me?
Bozo: Hain. Yes
Mini: Koto-ta? How much?
Bozo: Prithibi-ta joto boro toto-ta. As much as the earth is big.
Yes, quite corny, I know, and really the kind of conversation that sounds cute only coming from under-ten-year-olds, but it reminds me of how lucky we were to have each other for company while growing up, and also of how close we were. Of course, I think we usually had this conversation after we had had a fight, but it was a pretty good way to make up.
We would take turns asking the questions. In fact, I am pretty sure he thought them up in the first place. Oh and he would turn it into a competition as we grew older. If I'd answered, "as much as the earth is big", he would equate his love for me with the size of the universe, and no matter how much I tried, he'd always manage to find a way to top my statement. Yes yes, he was the smarter one, I know. :)
That's him with Ma at Narendrapur (the boarding school he went to for a year), and in front of our house when he was about 8, I think.
Lovely to hear about your little game! I had no idea!
ReplyDeleteThere was another thing you did at night, though you'd have been too small to remember it. But I think you can guess. Would it embarrass you if I put it here? It's TOO SWEET not to be mentioned, so PLEASE say no...
"Prithibi-ta joto boro toto-ta." "As much as the earth is big."
ReplyDeleteYes, that started right in Madras, almost as soon as he was able to speak! He'd give me that answer too, when I asked how much he loved me. And it was the same answer when I asked him how much I loved HIM!!! And each time he said it, his arms would fly wide open, as if to encompass the whole earth...
And they were not just words for him, were they? He really truely meant it, little though he was. He had this IMMENSE capacity to love. A pyaar ka saagar, an unending ocean of love ...
how incredibly sweet. makes me want to have another kid so that anouk has a sibling.
ReplyDeletelove you guys ...and Bozo dada.
Yashodhara
Mini the pictures are so nice.The last memory i have of seeing Bozo was in calcutta sumwhere in 1992 i think.... Suddenly the memory flashes right in front of my eyes. I remember during our Dunlop days Bozo n you would escort me home after every "ganer class" with Ashit da.... we used to play a silly game about rescuing the princesses... remember? It was so exciting. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling now that i think of it. Miss you dearly Mini and love you lots. Amidts all the crazy things that keep happening in my life(most of which i cook up to keep myself sane) i always remember you and feel good about all the times we have spent together....however distant they seem now!
ReplyDeleteyonom - Really? Didn't realise you didn't know. But no, I cannot guess what this other thing was, actually, and please run it past me offline first :)
ReplyDeleteY - Awwwww :) Have to say though, while siblings can have an amazing bond, so can cousins, as you and I know. Can't wait to see you and Anouk.
Mou - Yes, we had so much fun in Dunlop... there is something special about having that kind of close-knit community to grow up in. Even though we moved away early on, look how we have all kept in touch over the years and are still in each others' lives.