A letter from an Indian mother
to her son....
My dear Jagjit,
I am in a well here and hoping you are also in a well there. I'm
writing this letter slowly, because I know you cannot read fast. We
don't live where we did when you left home. Your dad read in the
newspaper that most accidents happen 20 miles from home, so we
moved 20 miles. I won't be able to send the address as the last
Sardar who stayed here took the house numbers with them for their
new house so they would not have to change their address. Hopefully
by next week we will be able to take our earlier address plate
here, so that our address will remain same too.
This place is really nice. It even has a washing machine, situated
right above the toilet. I'm not sure it works too well. Last week I
put in 3 shirts, pulled the chain and haven't seen them since. The
weather here isn't too bad. It rained only twice last week. The
first time it rained for 3 days and second time for 4 days. The
coat you wanted me to send you, your Aunt said it would be a little
too heavy to send in the mail with all the metal buttons, so we cut
them off and put them in the pocket.
Your father has another job. He has 500 men under him. He is
cutting the grass at the cemetery. By the way I took Bahu to our
club's poolside. The manager is Badmash. He told her that two-piece
swimming suit is not allowed in his club. We were confused as to
which piece should we remove?
Your sister had a baby this morning. I haven't found out whether it
is a girl or a boy, so I don't know whether you are an Aunt or
Uncle. Your uncle, Jetinder fell in the nearby well. Some men tried
to pull him out, but he fought them off bravely and drowned. We
cremated him and he burned for three days.
Your best friend, Balwinder, is no more. He died trying to fulfill
his
father's last wishes. His father had wished to be buried in the sea
after he died. And your friend died while in the process of digging
a grave for his father. There isn't much more news this time.
Nothing much has
happened.
Love,
Mom
P.S: Jagjit, I was going to send you some money but by the time
I
realized, I had already sealed off this letter.