NaBloPoMo 2019: Day 10: How to shout for help

Like any other family, we too had our fair share of tiny accidents around the house. Today I’m writing about two such cases.

The first incident happened at Redi. Appa had brought one of our cousins (let me call her M) home, wanting to educate her along with his daughters. However, there was some problem with getting the TC from the Karnataka school; also, she didn’t know Marathi, and so, she couldn’t be admitted to the school in Redi. Amma used to revise some basic math and Kannada with M at home so that she wouldn’t forget whatever she had learned until she went back to her old school.

One early morning, maybe around 6.30 am, my eldest sister Maithili (who was then 8 or 9 years old) went to the bathroom to have bath. That place was lighted by an open lamp kept near the hande in which water was getting heated. M was already there and wanted to bathe first. Maithili had to leave for school at 7 am, so she told M to wait till she had finished.

M didn’t agree and the girls (like little girls anywhere) did a little pushing and shoving around. In the melee, Maithili got pushed with her back to the lamp and at once, the langa and blouse she was wearing caught fire! Sensing the heat, she started screaming, “Ammmmaaaa….I’m burning!!!” Hearing her cries, Appa reached there first and with his bare hands, beat the fire out of her burning back. In the process, his hands got burnt too. They got a doctor to come home and administer some treatment.

The next 3 months were painful for Maithili, and she had to constantly lie on her tummy. No going to school either, and not able to do anything else at home. Along with the ointments and other medicines given by the doctor, she was also treated with juice from the aloe vera plant as recommended by the local people.

The second incident happened in the house at Pali. The girls were outside, in the veranda, playing “drawing-water-from-the-well-game,” leaning over a wall that was about 8 feet above the ground. 

The youngest, Bhargavi, fell over the wall, and Vatsala, ran down the stairs to reach her while simultaneously crying out again and again, “Ammmaaaa….Bhargavi fell down!!” Seeing the blood flowing from the cut on Bhargavi’s forehead, at the center, where the hairline begins, Vatsala kept her dress pressed against that point. Amma rushed there, summed up the situation, told Vatsala to keep up the pressure, and quickly brought turmeric to apply to the wound. 

In case you haven’t noticed already, I want you to go back and read what the girls screamed in both instances. They didn’t just shout out for Amma – even in the panic of those situations, they described what mishap had occurred in their cries for help! Now, this was the result of Amma’s training. She had explained clearly, time and again, that if they simply screamed, “Ammmaaa…” she wouldn’t know whether they were simply quarreling amongst themselves, or if there was something really wrong and she had to rush to see what had happened!

That was totally Amma – practical advice, herself not panicking in any situation, and making sure she got her daughters to imbibe these skills too….

By the way, that first-aid administering little Vatsala who wasn’t alarmed by the sight of blood, went on to become a doctor – and, going by reports from people she has treated, a pretty good one at that!