My first Neice is the cherubic,charming, cho chweet Mahima... born to my oldest brother Premkumar ( two years my senior and married to Amrita's sister Anju) . She recently sent me these beautiful pics of her. She was a cuddly cute baby just a short while ago and now she towers over all of us at age 13. She is bright and beautiful and very lovely. When she came with her mom last year... we were breathless... the baby was gone and in its place was a lovely girl with trinklets and flipflops and straw hat and all. Her mom and she had come after 5 years ..and the transformation was startling to say the least.. For Mahima India was intense all of a sudden..she was soooo full of questions...why the crowds everywhere etc..The best part was her mom and I while shopping in and out the vast shopping area would suddenly quite unconsciously cross the road to the store opposite...and looking around wouldnt find Mahima..where was she and then we would see her still on theopposite side... unable to cross through the zig zag maze of assorted traffic here. I had to recross the road and hold her hand and cross the road..Yes indeed the traffic here is a total mish mash of cars,trucks, cycles, scooters, bullock cart,autos etc and to the uninitiated quite confusing.
Mahima loved the dosas here - the crisp thin paper like crepes... and Mariamma our cook was her best friend. She loved making these dosas for Mahima. Mariamma by the way is so huge she can hardly walk or stand for long. Also she has the unrivalled knack of breaking every second chair she sits on. She would come to the kitchen and plonk herself down on the chair and there with a bong/more of a bang come to think of it ,she would go down ..with one of the chairs, its leg broken. They say Practice makes Perfect. InMariamma's case it was v.true. Fortunately for us, her husband was a carpentar. So his spare time was spent mending his wife's broken chairs.Now she has been advised to sit only on sofas. Anyway she was very skilled in making dosas ..which she sat and made with great joy esp for her friend Mahima. Also the coconut vendor had a fondness for Mahima.He would arrive a little after the crack of dawn , his cart piled with coconuts and with great flourish of his scythe chop the top of the coconut for the refreshing drink.
