Prologue

It all began one day, thirty three long  years after my grandmother died. Ambi Mama, my maternal uncle send a WhatsApp message that Narayani Patti's death anniversary was being observed on the following day, reminding the family to abstain from consuming forbidden food items and say prayers for the well-being of all. Every year, Mama would diligently call up my mother Lakshmi, Patti's eldest child regarding the death anniversary. Somehow this time, it was different as it transported me tin a Time Machine to the world of this remarkable woman who had remained wrapped in cloistered virtue, like many of her generation. Narayani Patti  was short and lovably rotund but her warm, fair face, adorned with her sparkling nose-ring and earrings mirrored the warmth and graciousness of her multifaceted personality. Her talents were many but she was not one to show them off. A deeply religious person, extremely large hearted and generous, adaptable to the requirements of the family that she married into, she touched the lives of us, her grandchildren and ignited the spark in us. All this from a lady who probably never went to school, whose hunger for knowing and learning was unmatched and appeased only by the intense passion with which she almost devoured books. Many are the anecdotes and glimpses that we get into her life which was an illustration of rural traditions that was observed by many rural wives of the landed gentry of South Tamil Nadu of the period from early to mid twentieth century. This, in no way is a tribute to a grand, gracious lady- she would not have liked it, the simple humble person that she was. By sharing memories and experiences within the near and extended family circles, I hope to weave a rich tapestry in  her myriad qualities and the rich, deep colours of her personality. Her greatest lesson was her great skill in finding and pursuing a purpose in life within the constraints of a socially inexorable domestic regimen without complaint, without churlishness. In the end is the beginning, let's laugh and cry with her as she cruises through the journey of life.