Mathiri Aunty

Annie  came to know Mathiri aunty few years back, when she came across Ad in newspaper under Buy/Sell section for 2 wheelers. She called up and went to see the vehicle where she met Mr. Joseph and when the deal was finalized she came to know Mrs Joseph – Mathiri Aunty. Annie build up a very good rapport with them and once in a while visited them having great time talking, discussing current events. Joseph uncle did most of the talking while Mathiri aunty kept her grace and clam and spoke whenever necessary. Annie found Mathiri aunty very approachable and sensible, Mathiri aunty was well educated, had something similar to  Dietian’s  job in Bombay before she got married, was well travelled , Tech savvy (Mr. Joseph was lagging far behind) she was good in speaking English and Hindi and was very practical in all the things she did (atleast when Annie was around )

Mathiri amachi as she is called is 70 year old, married for about 45 years to Joseph uncle who is around 75 years old , she has 2 daughters both of them settled in US  and  till sometime back she had her mother (around 92 yrs old) living with her– week , with very little memory who expired few months back peacefully with her daughter around.

Joseph uncle often teased Mathiri Aunty, for her going to social/ prayer meetings. Mathiri aunty would always keep her cool and continue doing whatever she was doing . One evening when Annie went to visit them, she found Joseph Uncle alone at home, he was delighted to see her and said ‘these days nobody visits us much’. Looking around Annie asked where was Mathiri aunty? He gave a hearty laugh and said she has gone to a neighboring house for a prayer meeting and will be back in a while – and sarcastically said ‘She will go to heaven after attending all the prayer meetings’ We smiled and started talking and then it was usual talk about his plans to exchange his car and 2 wheeler for new ones , and then talk of his health in general  …. And during this talk he mentioned about his mother  who had passed away almost 15- 20 years back and he paused and said ‘ If not for Mathiri my mother would not have had a peaceful death. Mathiri took care of her when my other brothers and their spouse could not take care of her. I left my job and we came to take care of my mother, Mathiri could handle my mother and her temperament , probably its because of her faith in prayer , she gets so much patience to handle tough people …’  That day Annie’s respect for Mathiri aunty grew manifold …. It is very rare to hear from any husband about his wife taking care of his mother …. Annie did not remember anyone else in her family or friends circle praising their spouse like the way Joseph uncle did, and the Annie paused and thought , a bit of soul searching … could  she  ….