Of Hercules and human limitations

At 36, I lead a reasonably healthy life. Or so I would love to think. An hour of Tennis in the morning, 40 mins at the gym in the evening coupled with moderate doses of Alcohol – maybe twice a week. That’s impressive, by any standard.

I fret and fume at all things oily – provided they have been home cooked. An austere Chicken Sandwich and some Boiled Vegetable sautéed in Olive oil for Dinner is a luxury – given none of us are much inclined to cooking a four course meal after a long day in office.

At this rate, I expect to be living till the ripe old age of 70 maybe! And will it be too much to add that I expect to be active till about a year before I start concentrating on my own bucket list. Nah! That’s fair, very fair indeed. Why else would I spend so much time slogging my butt in a Tennis court?
That brings me to my limitations. Limitations that would probably not allow me live a day beyond my Seventieth Birthday. When you set the bar low, it’s just very easy to achieve and bask in that glory.

This is the story of someone who foolishly chose to set it very high – extremely high. She has never played tennis, never watched either. She’s not quite conversant on how a Gym should appear – as much as we are challenged by our expectations on how God should look, if he ever chose to pay us a visit.

She doesn’t believe in controlling diet to keep fit – at 96, she ensures you eat well if you wanted to stay healthy.

Thamma (my Grandma) needs an introduction. At 96, being other things and doing perfect justice to those roles, she’s been one of the best Cooks I have ever had the privilege to come across. Widowed at the age of 39, she’s been a strict vegetarian for the last 57 years. That however has not taken away an iota of her skills in cooking non vegetarian (mostly fish; and all varieties of it) for a strictly non-veg family.

Thamma suffered a cerebral attack when she was 82. She went into a coma and doggedly hung on there for a good six months till a God named Dilip Mukherjee dragged her out of it by her left ear, using some unearthly tricks called homeopathy in civilized society.

She took a little over 3 years to revive - though at the cost of the vision in her left eye. But she came back with a bang – with all her Chitol Machher Muitha & Bhetki Paturi intact. No less worthy of mention was the Mochar Ghonto or Thor Chhenchki.

But Dilip, The Holy seemed to have created enemies in the divine community. In 2004, at the age of 91, Thamma slipped near her bedroom and broke her Hip Joint. No one ever thought she would ever leave her bed again. No human mind, restricted by its limitations, could venture that far into the realm of imagination. But Thamma did, with the aid of a simple Walking stick.

Today, at 96, Thamma is back in the kitchen again – albeit, for occasions close to her heart – belting out some delectable Tel Koi & Potol Chingri. At other times, this true grand dame talks us through her rich experiences in life that include two World Wars, a horrible famine, the Indian independence, creation of Bangladesh, the Oil shocks and subsequent inflation and what not – the least of it being India shining.

I have rarely spent two weeks at a stretch at home (well, my dad’s home) since I left it at the age of 16. Twenty years back, things used to be very different and all these finer delicacies were just taken for granted.

I came back after twenty years to take stock of all that has changed. Thamma, for one, has not.