An after thought....

It was sometime about 2 years ago that I penned a few lines on this cook. A cook who served the members of the Club, from morn till late evenings, who was always with a smile! He served almost every individual's needs, tastes and sort of customised for each member...and then he was no more one day!

Only after a few days one felt his absence...but the truth of the matter that he died and he was left in his lonely hut all by himself, was something that hit me hard and pricked me the most. His colleague Sambasiva tells me he carried him in his hands and performed the last rites....his name, no one knows (may be the register carries his actual name) but was called Babai ( meaning, paternal uncle, a word used casually amongst close friends too..)

20 Sep, 2012

An Unsung Personality….

Around Sep 2^nd, when the air was filled with tragic news of CM’s death, another death of a person familiar to us all went unnoticed and unsung….this is a tribute to his service to our Club, during the last 7 or 8 years!

Babai is a familiar word to call each other in Club environs. But there was one unmistakable and unequalled Babai in our Club kitchen, who made a mark in our minds, with his culinary skills and ever pleasing toothless smiles. His presence in the kitchen to the regular Club visitors was a “taken for granted” phenomenon. One could tell the waiter “tell Babai, I want a strong coffee…” and it was there the way you desired. He was there rolling out fresh and hot dosa from that hot pan that was double his small frame. Babai was a cook who was omnipresent …indoors and outdoors. His specialty was the tea for tea drinkers in the morning and crisp dosa and other tawa items.


 

Babai looked easily more than 55 years. When 10 K run tickets were on sale, he was one of the front runners to be a participant. He completed the route far ahead of many, double his size and weight! It looked, given a choice he would have loved to play shuttle or billiards in our Club. But he was a cook, so he had no choice but to do his job!

Babai died. When he died there was none to weep for him, none to even carry his body. His colleague and co-worker did the last rites for him. These are the moments we all are reminded of how we come into this world alone and leave alone…. We simply fade away, but the life goes on….

 

Let us all pray for this unsung personality, that his soul should rest in peace!