Devakiamma knew it all! Her eyes and ears were always open. She is the perfect reporter I had ever seen. And she will make even Mata Hari droop her head in shame with her excellent spy work.
“Your daughter was on the phone for one and a half hours, that too a single call”, she would broadcast the moment my mom opened the gate after her shopping. Oh My!! I would be in my room, upstairs, with doors tightly closed. She’d never come up. I would be speaking in my lowest voice my sound box can produce. And she doesn’t know how to tell the time. But those one and a half hours will be accurate. I would be doing just that.
“Her friend came and they were inside the room for a long time”, she would announce on another occasion. Everyone could feel the suspicion dangling out from her voice, and slowly spreading to my mom’s face. For God’s sake, we are not lesbians!! Even though many had doubted us seeing how thick we were, and the hours we would spend inside closed rooms, and on phone… Some had asked us directly too.
“Your husband came and took a piece of old cloth”, would be her another proclamation, this time to me. He might have taken it to clean something, poor fellow! “He was calling someone and making plans to go out”, she said. Now, that was something I liked. I can still remember vividly the look of disbelief on his face when I countered him with this info.
“Your daughter’s bed looks like an elephant had trampled on it”, I heard her telling my mother one day. (As if she was sleeping with someone was left unsaid). Her eyes were full of suspicion. She could hear nothing, and she didn’t see anyone going up. Then how come the bed sheet crumpled so much was her unasked question. I couldn’t help but give her a mysterious smile, which would have surely left her sleepless for at least two or three nights.
No one knew where Devakiamma would be. No one will see her anywhere near. No one could feel her presence. But she sees the whole lot. She hears everything. Who came and when, with what, and talked what, everything she would know. She would know how many calls you made, to whom, and what you were talking about, even if you would be talking in encrypts. My educated cousins would never be able to make heads and tails out of those conversations. But the uneducated illiterate Devakiamma could unlock all the secret codes. And she would keep my mom updated about everyone and everything. No one could take even a stone from my house. Not even a stray dog could enter without her permission. And she is controlling those who are, though 30 plus, unable to utter a word in front of her…
“Your daughter was on the phone for one and a half hours, that too a single call”, she would broadcast the moment my mom opened the gate after her shopping. Oh My!! I would be in my room, upstairs, with doors tightly closed. She’d never come up. I would be speaking in my lowest voice my sound box can produce. And she doesn’t know how to tell the time. But those one and a half hours will be accurate. I would be doing just that.
“Her friend came and they were inside the room for a long time”, she would announce on another occasion. Everyone could feel the suspicion dangling out from her voice, and slowly spreading to my mom’s face. For God’s sake, we are not lesbians!! Even though many had doubted us seeing how thick we were, and the hours we would spend inside closed rooms, and on phone… Some had asked us directly too.
“Your husband came and took a piece of old cloth”, would be her another proclamation, this time to me. He might have taken it to clean something, poor fellow! “He was calling someone and making plans to go out”, she said. Now, that was something I liked. I can still remember vividly the look of disbelief on his face when I countered him with this info.
“Your daughter’s bed looks like an elephant had trampled on it”, I heard her telling my mother one day. (As if she was sleeping with someone was left unsaid). Her eyes were full of suspicion. She could hear nothing, and she didn’t see anyone going up. Then how come the bed sheet crumpled so much was her unasked question. I couldn’t help but give her a mysterious smile, which would have surely left her sleepless for at least two or three nights.
No one knew where Devakiamma would be. No one will see her anywhere near. No one could feel her presence. But she sees the whole lot. She hears everything. Who came and when, with what, and talked what, everything she would know. She would know how many calls you made, to whom, and what you were talking about, even if you would be talking in encrypts. My educated cousins would never be able to make heads and tails out of those conversations. But the uneducated illiterate Devakiamma could unlock all the secret codes. And she would keep my mom updated about everyone and everything. No one could take even a stone from my house. Not even a stray dog could enter without her permission. And she is controlling those who are, though 30 plus, unable to utter a word in front of her…
7 comments:
Maam, The distinct change in your writing ...ie from human emotions to portrayel of human charecters is wonderful.You have given life to a simple soul like a house maid,and made her lively with a sense of humour too.Keep it up...The pic is also imaginative though a bit far fetched from the typical Devakiammas you come across in the kerala households.
"Good Work".
Ha ha great devakiamma ever seen. Hundered percent marks to devakiamma for grabbing the sangateeees fullly like sarath. I can feel the true sincere care and love of that poor devakiamma for whom wanted most. One more plus point to devakiamma. This type of devakiammas cant be bribed. I recommed a CARE PRAVEEN Award to the poor devakiamma. Devakiammma u live in the heart of all who loves life.
Saritha...truely its a great blog. Congrats to u for each and everything u noticed in devakiamma.Expecting more good blogs. Keep it up
Oh i forgot main thing about devakiamma. I love that taste of coffee full of niram, swaath and kaduppam of devakiamma. We calls it devakiamma special.
This Devakiamma had given me a warm welcome when I came to your house.You were not at home and she played a perfect hostess.Such maids are hard to find these days.I remember you telling me how this petite woman had been brave enough to open the door when you made a surprise visit and rang the door bell at 2 am !!You can rest assured your mom has a wonderful caretaker.
Well well well!! When I was asked to visit this blog by the blogger ( :D ), little did I know what was in store!! My my..! The lady who is being talked about here,is devaki and who we call with love devakiamma! She is the lady who has immense strength to do daily chores of the house and no matter what anyone says, dint want to share her workload with any outside servants.
She had taken immense care of me for 4 months when I was staying with my aunt and her at my ancestral home. She made sure that I am taken care of really well and when I say really well, it means she literally spoiled mee!! Now I know where the inert laziness of the blogger comes from!!hehe! :P because devakiamma did just that ! From the morning coffee to washing my plate, she never allowed me to do anything!! I was really pampered and I loved her for the care she showed me, and she used to address me as 'ente kutti alle’..
In this world, when we cannot trust anyone too much, here we are, blessed to have a lady who treats all the members of the family as her own family and gives them unconditional love and attention. It is just that one might need to give a little more stress to the word 'attention' in the previous sentence!! ;P
This blog is a proof that a writer will never run out of inspiring topics to write about, all one needs to do is to ‘look around’ (literally)
I am really impressed chech, every posting of yours just amazes me and it is their simplicity that amazes and touches me the most.
sarita,
kudos,devakiyamma has become so popular.your mom is blessed to have a CBI officer at home.
each mother longs for such sincere helpers to follow the footsteps of children when left alone.[does devakiyamma know about her popularity?]
i prefer a pic with kerala look[in mundua nd blouse].
we have to sharpen the skills of observation and the characters and incidents follow.
keep writing.good post.
me
Hai... I saw in some others blog, u mentioned about Lavana thailam. Is that useful?. How much will it cost. From where should I get it?. How long should I use it? etc... Please reply here.
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