Bengali miracle

I woke up on my upper berth and sat down. The first thing I saw was a little Bengali angel of 4-5 years old in a light-green fleece kangaroo sweatshirt and a small flower- patterned pink fleece blanket covering her legs. Her head was like a dandelion with her short dark curls looking weightless. She had this mat nicely brown skin and the eyes of Buddha. She was practicing a poem with her granddad and this respectable gentleman reminded me of someone else who would soon take up the role of a granddad.. The scene was one of the cutest I have ever seen.

Once I got down from the berth I met the whole family coming back from the holidays in Puri: both grands, mother from whom the girl got her cute face, father whom the girl was really fond of and an aunty… I was observing a vivid picture of the joint family traveling with 6 people and 14 bags.. I recalled how Piyali often says, “In Kolkata we live in a joint family” and the statement sounds so self-explanatory… Sharing of a house with no-one-knows-how-many-rooms and a huge dining table, crucial decisions and sweets after meals, holiday plans and ideas about the prospects of the youngest grandson… And division of labor authority domains and domestic routines.. This one on the train was amusing to watch… Beautificating themselves in the morning ladies in the bright and glittering salwar-kameez. Silent yet having her say grandmother in a cotton saree and carefully warped in a woolen shawl, with a big red bindi on her forehead, her hair in a big bun and the golden ear-rings shaped as inverted drops.. The granddad wearing a kurta and pants of fine white cotton and glasses in the golden frame.. not burdened with any other tasks but playing with his granddaughter or chatting with a younger co-journer.. Father in a long black kurta with extensive embroidery… sleeping long and then playing with the little girl sitting on his lap. And the girl, the joy of the whole family, who is perfectly aware of that.. She is demanding misti (sweet), persistently shaking the box where she knows they are carrying sweets from Puri… the grandma surrenders, opens the box and the whole family shares a few pieces. Great fun to watch, dubious fun to be a part of… Maybe as a little girl….