Page 51 - NIS English 01-15 July 2022

PM's Blog Nation

Every summer, she would

put out water vessels for the

birds. She ensured that stray

dogs around our house never

went hungry.

will be surprised to know that she’d use this
water for the next few days. What better
example than this of water conservation!
Mother was fond of decorating the house
and would devote considerable time towards
cleaning and beautifying it. She would smear
the floor with cow dung. Cow dung cakes emit
a lot of smoke when burnt. And Mother would
cook with them in our windowless house! The
walls would get blackened by soot and require
fresh whitewashing. This too Mother would
do herself every few months. This would give
our dilapidated home a scent of freshness.
She would also make pretty little clay bowls to
decorate the house. And she was a champion
in the famous Indian habit of recycling old
household items.
I can recall another unique habit of Mother.
She would make a glue-like paste with old
paper dipped in water and tamarind seeds. She
would make beautiful paintings by sticking
mirror pieces on the walls with this paste. She
would get small decorative items from the
market to hang on the door.
Mother was extremely particular that the
bed should be clean and properly laid out.
She would not tolerate even a speck of dust
on the bed. A slight crease meant that the bed
sheet would be dusted and laid again. All of us
were very careful about this habit as well. Even
today, at this age, Mother expects that there
should not be a single crease on her bed!
This striving for perfection prevails even
now. And though she stays with my brother’s
and my nephew’s families in Gandhinagar, she

New India Samachar July 1-15, 2022 49