Memories of a Little Girl Called Dolly! (VIII)

A couple of days before Janmashtami once, Dolly’s grandmother called, “Hey, Mummy Aunty, come down.”

When Mom went to the ground floor to see what happened, she saw Dolly eating butter. There was so much butter on her face and hands that her grandmother said, “Your Dolly is stealing butter from the fridge and eating. I had left it in the fridge for Janmashtami.”

Mom did not know what to do other than laugh. Then Dolly’s mother came and cleaned her hands and mouth. Then she kept the remaining butter back in the fridge.

On the Janmashtami day, we had decorated Krishna on a swing. Everybody would move it. But Dolly was continuously in our home and would not let any one touch the swing. She would only move the swing to show others. She would say, “Aap doorse maththa teklo.” Everybody would go with disappointment that they couldn’t move the swing.

Then came, Ganesh Chaturthy. Mom would make clay idols of Ganapathi at home. Dolly would come home and supervise the making of the idol. Daily she would sing the arti of Ganapathi. She would sing, “Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Deva. Matapati Pitapati Parvati Deva.”

We couldn’t laugh in front of her. She would say, “Bhagvan guchcha karega.”

To be continued…