Granny II

This is a story of a Granny from the viewpoint & observation of her grandson. Story goes back to year 1960's, when one of Granny's 13 children returns from Cambodia with her son and a child in her womb. This story depicts Granny's uncanny administrative skills, perseverance, management skills, and unselfish attitude, Ocean of Love, to gather knowledge of the world, accounts maintenance though she didn't studied beyond third standard.

Administrative Skills
To show the administrative skills of Granny one has to go little bit deep in to the details to understand her talents and skills. Granny only daughter of a wealthy advocate given marriage at an early age of 9 and she was blessed with 13 children in due course of time. She had 7 sons and 6 daughters. In summer whole family used to meet at Granny's house and her children would leave to their destinations after the vacations. Though Granny had a big house still in summer it seems to be inadequate. Granny was the first to wake up in the morning, after brushing her teeth, she would keep big vessel with water and boil it with dry wooden logs, dry cow dung and dry coconuts leaves. In those days, there was no geyser for hot water. So she has to put the big vessel to heat water for the whole family. She then takes her bath and sees that balance family which includes infants, grand children from the age of two to twenty, her own children, son-in-laws, daughter-in-laws and grandpa take bath. In those days there was no system of breakfast, elders would have coffee. Children along with grandpa and office going uncles would have early lunch at 8.30 am. So to prepare lunch along with cook and some of my aunties she get busy at kitchen and mean while she would wait for the vegetable-vendor woman to arrive. On her arrival she takes required vegetables for this big family, she negotiates with the vendor woman in her half telugu & half local language & when finalizes, she asks grandpa to pay money. She calculates every thing with her finger and get whole thing smoothly transacted.

When the lunch is prepared she would sit in middle of the big dinner hall around her all others would be seated. Starting from one side grandpa along with his pet cat, uncles, son-in-laws, elderly women and all the grand children, who could eat by themselves. Mothers of infant babies and small children would take individual plates and feed the children by telling stories, showing birds or monkeys in the veranda outside the dinning hall under the trees. This scene of serving food with utmost skill & peacefully cannot be described so easily, only Granny having full administrative skill controls the whole proceeding with an iron grip on the whole situation. Feeding whole family by herself is her first love and she would not allow others to interfere in it. She distributes the whole food so well, itself shows her rare uncanny talent. Before the next batch whole plates have to be washed and the ground has to be cleaned. One should understand one thing that she feeds not one or two but more than twenty five to thirty or even more. The next batch all the daughters, daughter-in-laws and herself would sit and the food would be distributed and these ladies could have their lunch leisurely without disturbance.

Then she would come to the sitting room and send all the male members to respective works or top floor by one call "Disburse" only word she learned in English.

News gathering or knowing the world
Afternoon season with a cup of tea in hands grandpa would come to sitting room where ladies along with infants and Granny would chit chat. Grandpa leaves to his Court at 9.00am sharp after having his lunch by his horse driven cart first later by cycle driven rickshaw to his court and returns home exactly the time when afternoon tea is prepared. He would bring newspapers, magazines, letters and read out to Granny and translate English to native tongue. He also reads letters that has come that day, some times discusses some funny incidents that had happened in the court that day. He reads stories and latest news world wide to Granny. She would then participates in different discussions on national as well as international news. If you listen to those discussions with Granny and grandpa you can't believe that she is only standard three passed. It shows her brilliance, IQ and her urge to know the world and improve her knowledge.

Management skills
As described earlier this story goes back to year 1960's when there were no rice mills or any electrical driven chaff which can clean and polish rice. Rice in my native area in those times was cleaned by women with big sticks and they would put in small quantities in hole on special vessel made of rock and takeout the rice cover. Granny would call these women on a particular day and see that she gets cleaned rice required for that month. She would again put the balance unclean rice in cellars and cleaned ones in big vessels put turmeric in vessels and tightly pack the mouth of the vessel with clean and dry cloth. She would batter rice against the wages. This way she gets two birds in one shot.

Granny would finish dinner also very early by 7.30 pm in the same manner as in the morning by sitting and administrating the food in her presence.
Every alternate day the family doctor would visit in the evening to see the blood pressure of Granny, along with her some pregnant women, allying children also will be given treatment.

Marriage in those days continued for a week & all the arrangements and care was being administrated and managed under the guidance of Granny. In her house she gave 13 children' s marriages and some grand children also.

The bottom line is that the whole episode can't be handled unless one has great vision, plan, strategy, very able administrative as well as managerial skills . So she was a born manager.

Though she didn't go to school beyond IIIrd class but education was given top priority to her children. Her 4 sons were engineers; one was law graduate, one son chief conservator of forest and one son Mphil in English. It is told that the whole of the district there is no one better than her son in English. Two of her daughters were gold medalist one in Mathematics and other one in Chemistry. One of her daughter-in-laws a great nuclear physists. This shows as she was a great visionary and a great woman.

With big family and with six daughters you find one or other daughter coming for delivery. Similarly Granny's second daughter who lost her elder son at Combodia had come to India for delivery. It was in the month of July and rains were very heavy. Two of Granny's son's had come for vacation at that time and Granny along with her nine month pregnant daughter had to take care of every thing. It was ween hours in the morning. Granny's fourth son had just come from his tour and was talking to other family members when , he suddenly found his sister getting delivery pains. Granny who also saw the situation critical took immediate decision & asked her fourth son to carry her to the hospital which was the very next door on a cycle rickshaw. As soon as she reached the hospital she gave birth to a son. And mother and son were both safe. This prompt and timely decision shows how coolly Granny could handle worst situation.

There are many more incidents in the life of Granny which shows that she was no ordinary Granny but women of extraordinary strength ,character, born manager and a brilliant woman. An ordinary lady with extraordinary attitude truly suited to be called as "The Great Granny".