The MAY SNOW

Wish I could go home, back to my village and feel the warmth of the January sun. The beautiful yellow mustard flowers in the fields , the baby green wheat fields, the long reddish brown sugarcane, the spring onion saplings, new brown potatoes, the peanut candy made with fresh golden colour jaggery and of course the hard sesame seed balls also made with jaggery... uff the list is endless”, murmured Jaya struggling with her sari, the overcoat and of course the snow boots.

Jaya had come to Atlanta to assist her daughter Radha with her first baby. Initially Jaya was excited to visit her daughter in this alien land. She was excited to fly for the first time and see so many fair skinned people. According to her, both men and women dressed alike. Everyone was covered in long coats, woollen caps , mufflers and she could see soft vapours coming out of their mouths as if they were steam engines.

She was also forced to wear a black long coat and funny cap covering her well oiled black hair peppered with silver strands here and there. Though in her early sixties, she was energetic. Managing newborns was not a problem for her. in fact everyone in her village would come to her for assistance to take care of a baby. She was expert in bathing a new born without the least fear of holding the delicate pink flesh with a single hand and give a bath of hot water followed by drying the body and applying home made black kajal (kohl) to the little eyes and black round spot on the forehead to ward off any evil which would otherwise befall on the baby.

Jaya looked at the calendar on the mantle with a sigh. “Four more months to go! I can leave this country by the end of April. Glad they don’t allow visitors to stay for more than six months. Of course i am happy to be with my grandson, by April he will would be four months old. Radha’s mother-in-law would take over the responsibility of looking after the little one”, thought jaya.

Jaya adapted quiet well with time zone as well as the household chores in the foreign country. Now she could easily operate the microwave, avoid smoke while tempering the dal to prevent smoke detectors buzz the fire alarm. She learnt the art of shopping for vegetables in the stores and simply smile at the neighbour since language was a barrier.

The only thing that irritated Jaya was mounds of snow in the morning and sometimes through out the day. She used to observe from the window, huge vehicles coming to dig the snow and clear the pathway. She kept wondering why god sent snow. It covers everything . Tress appeared like old men, dry, no leaves, only covered with snow. No birds or insects could be seen anywhere. There was no social life. People were cooped up in their homes and whenever they spoke , they appeared like steam engines. She was glad there was nothing called ‘snow’ back in her place. All that people enjoyed frozen ice in the form of hail. She also wondered why people in this foreign land herald the New Year in such a bleak environment where the Nature seems old and grey. 

Well time passed and jaya was ready to go back to her country. She was excited to catch her flight. There was tearful farewell. Radha was unhappy that mother was leaving. Jaya was also sad leaving her daughter and the little grandson with whom she was attached, taking care of him all these months.

The flight touched Delhi airport. Jaya saw through the flight window that the tarmac seemed shimmering in the heat. But jaya was happy to feel the heat after all that cold weather, and snow. She took a taxi cab to her village with her loaded suitcase packed with goodies and gifts for all her friends and relatives. She like a curious child, looked out to see huge mango trees along the highway laden with mangoes big and small, some yellow, some green and little boys were trying to throw stones to pluck the mangoes. The fields were brown after the last crop was harvested. There were also beautiful red , purple, orange flowers of the royal poinciana or Gulmohar in the local language.

 When the taxi cab stopped in front of her house, friends were holding garlands to welcome her. Jaya hugged her friends . Someone offered cool sugarcane juice. Her favourite mango tree which she named as ‘Bhola’ was already laden with mangoes, the papaya tree was also had papaya of all sizes. Even the Well water tasted better than the foreign land bottled water even if filtered or not filtered. She went inside the house.The night was already casting its dark shadows.

Jaya climbed on her high old teak bed. Gathering close her soft silk cotton pillow ,she slept peacefully with no static sound of the room warmer which she had been used to all these months. 

She woke up next day morning but it was still dark. She felt bit cold which was quiet normal in the morning. She groped for her light blanket and tried going back to sleep. But she couldn’t. She opened one eye and looked out of the window.

She was puzzled. ‘What is that? Bhola is covered with white sheet or something else! Where are those mangoes?, why that stupid snow is still haunting me? Peak summers and what am I imagining . Time  to wake up and not have these early morning funny dreams”, she thought.

She woke up. Got down from the big bed and the moment her feet touched the floor , it was cold. She walked to the front wooden door and opened it with force. A sudden blizzard caught her. She closed the door clumsily and came to her window .

She saw flakes of snow settling softly on the ground. Everything around was covered in a blanket of snow. She saw the straw roofs of her neighbours almost sagging under the weight of the snow. A bunch of children came from nowhere and started playing with snow balls. One of them shouted “ Thank you America grandma for brining the snow with you! My mother was telling my father that you are responsible for the snow!”, still laughing with pleasure the little boy started throwing more snow balls at his friends.

Jaya was bit taken aback. “ what has the snow got to do with me?”, she murmured. Suddenly she felt lot of eyes staring at her through their respective windows. Kanta who claimed to be her best friend, slipping and falling walked through the snow and reached Jaya. With anxiety and relief jaya opened the door to greet kanta.

‘Thud! Something hit Jaya right on her face.

“Here is your stupid gift from that alien land ! You came back and brought this snow and I wonder what havoc your gift might create. I never listen to my mother- in-law but today was the first time I felt she spoke sensibly to return your gift”, grinding her teeth in anger kanta left.

Her immediate neighbour Kamla was shouting so loud that her voice could be heard across five streets. “ This season I would have had the best mangoes in my orchard. I had planned to export them, earn good profit so that I could get my daughter married decently. Now look at the wretched snow, which has spoiled every fruit that even the hogs would not touch them. If I ever had been a good wife, dear God don’t spare the person who brought this wretched snow in her two big suitcases !”

 Jaya was almost in tears. She wondered if this was all because of her. She hated the snow too. Maybe this was the reason the Snow was taking revenge on her, and haunted her. Back in her country, they pray to Sun,Rain, Wind, Water and Earth but never thought of Snow. She should have respected the Nature back in the foreign country. Every mother knows how to bring up her children and jaya should have refrained from making adverse comments on the climate or the New year celebration. Well ! It was too late.

She was afraid to even open her door. She peeped from the corner of her window. There were multiple foot imprints on the snow coming towards her house and going back. She went to the door and looked through the key hole and saw a big mound of all the gifts she had brought for each of her neighbour so lovingly were mercilessly dumped at her door step. More tears flowed down from her eyes. 

She was like the ‘The Selfish Giant’ where no child or the Spring visited his garden. She never felt so lonely all her life. She knelt down on her knees and started to pray. “ Oh Snow Mata (mother) please forgive me. I should not have hated you. You have your own purpose. You give rest to your children like the trees, rivers, insects, birds and animals some time so that they can come back with renewed energy in the Spring and make people happy with the vivid colours. 

She put her head down on the floor and tears flowing now freely almost wet the place. Her eyes drooped , like a kid sobbing for a her Mother , she slept fitfully.

“Jaya , Jaya ! What’s wrong. The front door is ajar and you are sleeping on the veranda. Wake up. I can understand its terrible for you to adjust to this heat of May after enjoying the beautiful cool weather and the lovely white snow”, kanta was poking Jaya’s ribs to wake her up.

Jaya sat up and looked around and through the open door. Children were throwing stones at her Bhola , the mango tree to pluck the ripe mangoes. Kamla was showing off her new American handbag and kanta smelled of the perfume that Jaya had gifted her.

“Please tell me about the Snow . How it looks and feels ?” Kanta said excitedly. 

“ No, no , not today , let me catch up with my work”, saying jaya stood up with a smile...