Janai Atya

While I was away in BLR Janabai or Janai atya passed away. Today was her Dashakriya ceremony. 

She was my Dad’s cousin. Older than him. 

He would always describe his sister as DASHING. 

When they were kids she would carry my Dad. She could ride a buffalo 🐃 and would take them to the farm to fertilise it by grazing them. So the dung could be spread in the field. She went to the weekly bazaars of Poynad to sell dried fish ever since she was a teen. She would get narlipak and khapti from there with her hard earned money for her favourite cousin brother that was my Dad. 

She was a young mother of 3 kids when her husband went absconding. She used to go to Sasoon dock and then retail at Crawford market. Her’s was good old cash business. She bought her own small flat in Vashi when there wasn’t even train service available and she had to take a ST to Mankhurd station from where she would take a Harbour train to Sasoon dock. She was that strong Koli woman so stereotyped by films. No nonsense types. I remember how someone on the bus was harassing her and she showed him the fish chopper Kathi and threatened to make keema of his middle appendage  🤣🤣 घावटून टाकीन ! 

Both her sons did Techinal diplomas and the second son our Jackie has monopoly is private speed boats and yatch maintenance across India today. The daughter too is doing ok for herself. We are proud of our atya and what she achieved! 

I have some lovely memories of her from my teenage years when she visited us more often. Probably we imbibed being DASHING from her in our own way!