Errr..ands

Errands and childhood are like brothers and sisters, sometimes reluctant, at other times willing friends. What Monu and Pinky can do in the matter of a minute, no grown up can. What adults feel lazy to do, kids do happily, often with a feeling of pride.

Rimpy was literally the errand girl of the entire building.
Rimpyyyyy…
Get me a packet of milk
Get some chillies from the terrace
Run…half a kilo onions
Hurry! Go down to the milkman’s
Take the cycle and get samosas
Blouses for pico
Take Pepsi (the pet, don’t laugh at the name) for a walk
Ask aunty if she will come over
Tell uncle I’ m calling…..

While these were errands Rimpy did without giving much thought, there was a set of errands which requires special mention. Errands which came to life suddenly on sneaky summer vacation afternoons, and at times on shy winter mornings. Errands which were given to her by a certain celebrity, who lived in a certain hill station boarding school. Errands given by the celebrity who didn’t have a Tamil version of her name, like Rimpy had Rampama and Simi had Sampama. – Errands given by Mimi.

Whenever Mimi was to come home, a whirlwind of affairs started. For a change mom didn’t mind Rimpy playing too much. Cakes were baked, the guest room aired, chicken pickle made… (But that’s another story). Finally she arrived and along with her came errands.

Every Sunday afternoon when Doordarshan showed award winning regional films Rimpy turned to Rampama and Simi became Sampama. Though they never understood the dialogues, they watched with rapt attention as Mimi bombarded them with her customised interpretation. Polished toes, a bubble gum in mouth, blue trousers and open hair she was definitely the celebrity at home.

Coming back to the errands, Mimi knew an art like no one, to create an errand out of thin air. Very often they weren’t even errands…things like switch off the light before going, straighten the books, see you have stepped on my slippers –straighten them, close the door, get me a glass of water, so on…Most of the times they were a combination of this and that…like drink my milk, close the door and take the glass down. However, the most interesting errand consisted of going to Hareshar’s dukaan.

Whenever there was work to be done, word somehow reached Rimpy of secret accord- a nod here, a nudge there and she knew it. The agenda of the errand also included the unspoken protocol of completing it without being discovered by mom. Rampama knocked on the guest / celebrity’s room and took the one rupee coin with a silent nod. Then she ran to Hareshar’s dukaan to buy the needful. With rapt attention she saw the ageless and bold Hareshar count ten of them that came for a rupee…

And when he handed them to her, she counted them again to make sure. She never gave in to the temptation that rose in her mouth, lingered on her tongue, never gave in to the tangy tinge that crept into her mind just thinking about it. She hid the treasures in the skirt of her dress and climbed the flight of ten stairs to celebrity’s room and finally surrendered the gastronomic power to common sense. Celebrity counted them-one to ten, in the presence of the witness Sampama.

10 pieces of 10 paise treasures = 1 rupee
10 pieces of 10 paise worth forbidden temptation = Tamarind Spoons

She gave one finally to Ramapama and two to Sampama (keep your mouth shut bribe). Until the next errand…

*Imli / Tamarind spoon= A sweet and sour dried imli seed on an ice-cream spoon covered with a transparent magenta paper.