In this current IPL Season, trust our ever reliable Mum to smack a well deserved Century! Yes what an achievement in this day and age. A 100 glorious runs on May 18, 2023 and still running. Like Deepika Padukone said about “Natu Natu” at the Oscar’s- this milestone birthday too is a “Banger”.
Our Mum, Mrs Remediana Fernandes e Pinto, was born to a large family, in a picturesque village in Goa in the time of the Portuguese Regime. Mum and her siblings in their childhood, had to pitch in to complete household chores, in an era when electricity and running water were still distant dreams. Goa was peaceful and a harmonious place, free of dirty politics and everyone lived off the fat of the land. Neighbours were family and family were neighbours literally. So many got married within the confines of the protective village.
Mum married our Dad, a Sailor in the Merchant Navy when she was barely 18 years of age in 1941. Yes Dad too was from the same village. Our parents relocated to Bombay in the 1950s with children in tow. With Dad away on the High Seas most of the time, our Mum had to be a super Mom, caring and nurturing her “Magnificent 7 children”. She was the original multitasker, when the word was perhaps not even coined. No wonder Mum’s grandchildren and great grandchildren dote on her.
Be that as it may, Mum adapted to her strange new environment in Bombay (as it was known then), like a duck to water. Though cultural shocks were a plenty. She once told me that she was gobsmacked when she encounter a beggar on the streets of Mumbai for the very first time! She had never seen a beggar in the good old Goa of her time. Today most of us have nuclear families and we still think we have a tough job on hand. I often wonder how our Mum managed almost single handed with her flock of 7. We did not want for anything either. Food was always home cooked by our Master Chef Mum. After returning from school, Mum’s home made snacks were to die for.
Mum at times accompanied our Dad on his long sea voyages. She could do this because Mum had trained the older children to look after the younger ones. That’s succession planning for you. Mum’s favourite destination (apart from her Golden Goa) is Liverpool. Now that’s surprising – as her sons and grandsons are all Man U fans!
I don’t think Mum ever recovered from the loss of losing Dad in the year 1994. After all, our Parents had spent more than 50 glorious years together. Mum gathered herself together and channelised her energy to keeping her house ship safe, to borrow a nautical term. Till a decade back, she still whipped up terrific meals. Her cuisine for Bandra Feast was was attraction enough for relatives to flock home for the Feast. Even now at 100, though her body has slowed with age and after two or three falls, her mind (touch wood), is as sharp as ever. A living walking encyclopaedia of events gone by.
Mum’s gentle disposition and charming smile remain endearing to this day. Whenever the former Residents of her Housing Colony – Virendra CHS in Bandra, come on holiday, they all make it a point to drop in to visit Mum and seek her blessings. I have pix but just too many to put up.
Mum lives with our youngest sister who does a magnificent job shuttling between work and attending to Mum. Mum is still fiercely independent though. She does not need assistance with her meals. She sits regally at the table and eats by herself. You bet she will castigate the cook and show her where exactly her culinary skills falter, if the meal is not up to her exacting standards. Mum after all is a perfectionist – old habits die hard, more so after 100 long years. Mum now navigates with either a Walking Stick or more recently a Walker, which is more of a back up. Mum can still visit the Restroom by herself and gets by for most of the day without a full time help. She reads her favourite Newspaper more often without her reading glasses. Remarkable for her age. But then as I said earlier, our Mum is a Super Mom. Oh she does have the usual old age problems but bears them patiently and gracefully.
In order not to strain Mum too much, we have reluctantly cancelled all large birthday celebrations except for a cosy family lunch. The Colony Residents will definitely come to wish Mum and make her day. She is looking forward to that. After living in Virendra Colony for over 60 years, neighbours have become family and willingly rush to her aid in emergencies, even post midnight🙏.
Some of the money saved on cancelling a large birthday celebration, has been donated to a good cause. You bet Mum likes that. After all, she has been giving all her life – Giving even when it hurts.
Happy Birthday Mum, you are simply the Best and we are truly blessed to have you!
