We have a gentleman who has been taking care of paying our bills, paying property tax, etc., for the past 10+ years ... it is his business. He comes from a very poor background, is a genteel, soft-spoken, and extremely reliable person, who has come up in life through hard work. He now has diversified to running a canteen on weekends, where his wife and mother cook and sell traditional Tamilian food. I have great admiration for him.
He has a daughter, an only child, a couple of years younger than mine. He often speaks about the need to educate her, stating that he might not be able to accumulate any great wealth for her, but can certainly educate her to a place where she can climb out of the perpetual cycle of poverty and ignorance that his family has been in for many generations. Nothing can take that wealth away from her.
Since he has no problems with it, I have often handed over my daughter's old books, games, and the excess of crayons, sketch pens, other stationery, etc., that we invariably seem to collect. Yesterday when he had come over for something, he spoke again about his daughter's achievements in academics and sports at school. He was obviously proud of her. While handing over some things that I had kept aside for his daughter, I asked him if he would be OK with taking some of the kid's old clothes in excellent condition - denims and such, which have hardly any wear and tear.
"No ma'am," he said. "My daughter doesn't wear jeans and t-shirts. She is very cultured."
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Just realised yesterday - my grandmother (the one I had blogged about) was exactly my age now, when I was born. I have photographs of a few month old me with her - she looks much older than I do now. Was it BECAUSE she already was a grandmother? Or did nearly a decade of being a widow in a more conservative society, one in which you had to stick to the traditional image of a widow, do that to you? Or is it just my imagination, because as a child, my memories of her were such?
Wondering.
2 comments:
Give me the clothes. We're culture less just like you are. And what's more - love being this way! :-D
Ha Ha! Being cultured equals not wearing western clothes :)
But despite these thoughts, I appreciate the fact that the man is educating his daughter and wants her to become independent.
You have a nice blog here. Glad to have stumbled upon this space.
Keep writing!
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