Chandy

My mother-in-law was an amazing personality. This was in the year 1951. She was travelling to Bombay (from Kerala) with her grand daughter and a servant lady. She had written to her son to inform him about the time of her arrival at the Victoria Terminus station. (The letter never arrived. I do not know how it was lost.)

Their train arrived at the station. It was early morning. She got out on to the platform with the help of the porters. But, there was no sign of her son. Can you imagine her predicament in a strange place and not knowing the local language? After waiting for around 30mins or so, she must have realised she would have to manage on her own. They came out of the station and hired a taxi. She showed her son’s address to the taxi driver. The taxi driver brought her to Lamington Road where we lived in a flat. But no one knew where the flat was. My mother-in-law, though she did not speak Hindi, spoke English.

When they arrived in the area of our flat, my mother-in-law stopped the taxi, got out and asked a man on the road whether he could direct them to her son’s place. Fortunately, this man knew her son, and got into the taxi with them and brought them safely to the building where we lived.

She came storming in to our flat saying she wanted to give her son a piece of her mind. That is when the whole story came out.

# posted by R C @ 7:37 pm