After opting for voluntary retirement from service, my husband and myself went to London to have our first grandson, Rajarshi, nicknamed Raj. Leaving Raj at the age of two and a half-month with the care of our daughter and son-in-law we reached our newly possessed flat in Bhopal. It was difficult to pass time, as the ritual of hurrying up in the morning for attending office was no longer there. The housing complex being a new one, there was hardly any friend for a couple who has come from Delhi to settle in Bhopal for the first time. On the top of that mind was always occupied with sweet memories of Raj knowing fully well that thought free life should be the goal to attain spirituality.
One day climbing down the stairs, I saw a little baby having a cute round face in the green lawn in front of our flat. A sacred dot of sandal wood paste on the middle of his forehead made him appear as the baby incarnation of God. He was playing with a gentleman-may be his Papa-I thought! The boy greeted me with a grin.
Overwhelmed by his gesture I sought permission from his escort in Hindi to take him in my lap. The gentleman nodded but surprisingly he did not communicate verbally. The little one came to my lap as if I have known him since ages.
I rushed to our first floor flat to show my prized possession to my husband speaking in my mother tongue- Bengali. As soon as I reached the upstairs the escort of the boy followed me. He might have thought that it was a case of kidnapping!
Later on Vijayasree (in short addressed as Viji), the mother of the tiny tot told me that the name of the boy is "Appu" (derived from Lord Ayyappan at Sabarimala temple in Kerala). I preferred to call him "Appu Raja" with the blessings that he would be as great as a king (Raja) does when he grows up. The gentleman escorting the little one hailed from Kerala who had come for the first time to Bhopal to drop his sister to live with her husband with her first baby. He does not even understand a bit of Hindi!
I have been watching Appu Raja growing up day by day speaking Hindi with Malayalam accent. It really sounds very sweet! The problem is whenever he visits his native place he has to converse in Malayalam and takes time to switch over to Hindi while coming back to Bhopal.
In course of time AppuRaja’s friends Yaman, Bittu, Sani and Vedansh belonging to different communities’ viz. Sindhi, Maharashtrian, MP. have also developed friendship with me. They address me as "Dadi" (Grand Ma). I enjoy their chattering while playing inside the complex. But for reasons unknown to me the affinity I developed for Appu Raja is unique. He has also become a great friend of my grandson Raj. Raj however nurtures the feeling that the main attraction for me, for staying in Bhopal and not in London is "Appu Raja"!
