As kids we gave her the name Lachi. She was a petite woman who would hardly reach up to my shoulders now and two things I can never forget about her are her cute dimples, which grew cuter when she lost all her teeth and her chuckle. That was the only way she knew to laugh. She wasn’t older than my mother, but she had those traditionally pierced ear lobes, the size of a coin, and chunky red stone- embedded studs that lengthened her lobes by more than an inch and her right arm tattooed in a beautiful rangoli design.

She joined our house-hold as a help to my mother, we were not to call her ayya as my mom had too much pride in bringing up her lot, a handful to reckon with. It was at my dad’s insistence that she agreed to take in Lachi to manage us. Well, what could my mother do single handedly, when the wails started from one and caught on to the others, I doubt if it was possible for one person to push feeding bottles in and pacify three or four at a time.

We found ourselves seeking Lachi’s company and she entertained us with stories, especially of a haunted house and her experience with ghosts and her fun-filled silly games. She must have lost most of her teeth then itself, as she couldn’t chew her paan and my mother had given her my grand mother’s paan mixer. All of us confided in her and went to her most of the time to reveal our mistakes, but she would take us to mom and break the news immediately. Not once do I remember her encouraging us to lie or hide the truth from my parents. We had a lot of affection for her.

She was widowed quite early in life. She had one daughter whom she brought up by herself, married her off and was quite comfortable living with us. She had a nephew, Shankaran, on whom she showered more affection than her own daughter and it so no surprise that it was her ambition to get her eldest grand daughter, Mallika married to him . Her aspirations materialized and the couple settled somewhere near Bangalore. It was only then she showed any interest in taking a break to stay with them for at least a month annually.

A year after their marriage, Lachi’s position was elevated to that of great grand mother and it was after her visit that she broke the news to us. She had discovered Shankaran was having an affair with another woman and the lady too was pregnant and expecting her first child. Words cannot describe the pain and turmoil she went through and was heart-broken for her Mallika. A couple of years later Shankaran married the other lady also and managed to have three children out of each marriage. He began drinking and according to Lachi, he was not only spending more time with the second family but also gave majority of his earnings to them. Our advice in the initial stages, consolation and whatever else we offered fell on deaf ears and Lachi continued with her laments and sobs.

Few years down the line, she seemed to take it all in her stride, and chose to live with Shankaran and Mallika on retirement. During her visits, she continued to complain about Shankaran and curse his second wife but said she felt more at peace since she was by Mallika’s side.

During her last visit, two years back, I found her talking favorably about Shankaran’s second wife and complained that Mallika should have been smarter to keep her husband to herself. The second wife had invited Lachi home and though the sisters’-in-marriage never spoke to each other she was a go between and so she rambled on with her stories. Just before leaving she gave me her new telephone and mobile number and broke the news that she had moved from Mallika’s to Shankaran’s second home which was spacious, more comfortable and had rooms upstairs to accommodate guests.

I was shocked and speechless. I could only manage to question her as to what Mallika would do and she retorted that the donkey will never learn and this was accompanied by her familiar chuckle. Said she visited her grand daughter Mallika once in awhile.

I was made to wonder how Lachi’s values and priorities had changed; she even looked ten years younger with new jewelry adorning her neck and ears. She seemed happier. I was sad with my discovery of the ‘new-Lachi’, who I feel, had misplaced her values for more comfort. Yet, she continues to have a place in my heart.