not just words

bizarre, somebody was just telling me off today for not giving captions to the pics I had shared.


----

my cook made me think today.

she regrets not having studied. given how sharp, strong and sassy she is, she would have soared heights if she had. I totally agree...around my age, with 4 kids (she married when she was 17 or 18), shes attractive, no-nonsense and pretty egoistic. her hubby's a no-good-bloke, she even lived separately with her kids for some months, in a rented shack to get rid of him and his ma...now they are all back together since her brother-in-law who seems to be a good egg, begged, wheedled her to come back and do her thing and save the rent bit.

shes handled a variety of jobs like selling veggies, assisting a tailor and other stuff...thinks she has the business acumen to start her own venture, but knows that not being literate will be a stumbling block. I prodded her to join an adult night school or ask one of her kids to teach her the basics...she seemed reluctant and stated, 'aadhi zindagi aise hi katt gayi' or 'anyway, half my life has been spent thus', which I couldnt but agree with.

As a contemporary, but from a different strata, I can hope to learn a new language, pick up a new skill, push the envelope even a decade from now, but for her, its more important that her kids get to be comfy and good and life goes on. She tells me if it werent for her kids, she would have kicked her hubby connection out of her life. That, though, transcends race, strata and even species - the maternal instinct to hang on and give up and see through for the kids.

But what is sad is that here is a bright mind that knows it can soar but is too grounded in its reality to do anything drastic. I will continue to prod her dormant urge to learn and make something of the next half of this life. Out of her brood, just one of her kids, a daughter, shows a similar desire to learn and expand her horizon. Maybe, its not a wasted case, after all.