Lost Connection

It seems Seetakka passed away. Blood cancer. Pappa said he had visited Maama, Atte and her about an year ago and he wasn't aware of it then. Later he had heard rumors but anyway, he hadn't told me anything. She was 44. I look at her photo in the news report and she looks the same, like she was decades ago. Her father was a close friend to Pappa those days and our families mingled very regularly. I must have vague memories of them even as a baby. But the most solid one is when I was fourteen, when I stayed at their place for 2-3 weeks, without my parents. The only place I've stayed in for that long, apart from my grandparents'. Actually it did remind me of my grandmother's by its remoteness. They had bought a piece of land near the Kerala border and built a house there. There weren't even petty shops in the vicinity and if you went to town, you had to walk a mile to catch the bus. 

But I enjoyed the solitude of that barren land. That is, when Seetakka left me alone. That house is so clearly etched in my memory. They hadn't maintained the surroundings at all so it was some coconut trees in a grassy land, just beyond the front yard. We roamed there in the mornings.We went walking along the dusty roads in the evening and she was a non-stop talker and I, the listener. She was older than me, was very proud of her writer father and it was quite obvious that she would enter the literary world soon. She was the only child and maybe I was a welcome ear; she told me all sorts of things. From classmates to monetary troubles at home. She suggested books that I could read from her father's vast collection.She even romanticized periods. I was struggling with the cloth pads and hated the routine so her words put the whole thing in a new light. I think we even exchanged some letters later. I now wonder why we didn't go on to build on the bond we developed that summer. I can blame it on the fact that Pappa fell out with Maama a couple of years after that but there was something else too. I can't put my finger on it though. 

Today my thoughts are more with Atte. She was always a strong lady and I hope she continues to find strength.