Living Brightly In The Dark

Susheela Jadhav was 94 when she passed away of cancer on March 2 2009.

I never knew much about her, my Grand Aunt except that she was different. The word "different" was not that well regarded in the Matungan middle class Maharshtrian morality. In her fifties in 1970's, she was a picture of firmness combined with a wry sense of humour and correctness. But, above all "correctness" defined her - everything had to be in line, correct and must be completed. She was the last generation not grafted genetically into the internet and indeed the modern media. She had no Facebook, she did not blog or declare something to be del.i.cious or digg anything nor did she flickr. Yet , being the I_Am-Standing_Erect_And_Correct , she managed to live life beautifully, traveled far, and spent time and pleasured in the company of family and friends, what we call "hanging out". She loved travel, she carried her masale ande and tikhat puri, added Indian Railways to her Favourites list as she criss crossed India. Her mutton biryani was something of a family treasure and if she was better humoured, she could be the Julia Child of Matunga. Her end was a time warp, a sudden silence , save for a flickering eyelash and a deep breath of the mountains. This she could not have sent on a twitter.