SPIDEY!

I always hated it when she called MY dad as "Appa".

    I firmly believe that the relation of Appa and Amma is so religious that it should only be used with one's own parents, not with anyone else, irrespective of how close they are to oneself.It irks me even today if a friend or two of mine call my dad as Appa.It is a very important relation for me and i guard it with so much jealous.Some people can argue that when he/she calls my parents as Appa amma , they consider them as valuable relation as his/her parent.No, i disagree on that.Every relationship has a unique value and it is important to protect it.

    That was why i hated it when the new girl/lady from the family that became friends with ours called so.Being a teacher in profession, my dad always encourages when he sees a bright young boy or a girl.He firmly believes that women be educated well to have an organic growth of the society.So, when he saw this bright young lady talking about literature to cinema and devotional literature to poetry with equal elan, he was impressed and started giving her lessons of life and invited her to home for debates on various topics.

    My brother was in college that time and whenever he was at home , he and this girl used to discuss about movies.Somehow , i never felt comfortable when she was around , though she was very friendly with all of us.I was wondering whether i only felt this way.But, later i found that my mom also did not like her presence and hated when she called dad as "Appa".

    I have to admit that she had this natural flair for communication and anybody who talked to her, appreciated her.She used to do spiritual debates and discourses in temples, which added a lot of value to her relationship with people, including my dad.

    Whenever my mom argued with my dad about her frequenting our house and calling him Appa, my dad pacified her saying she was a bright child and was like a daughter to him.We even visited her house which was few kilometers away from our place.When we went there , we saw that all the male members in the family were dumb and were almost like drifters. She took us to a silk weavers' place and managed to get us a good silk saree at a steal price with her PR skills.

    During one of her visits to our place, she requested my dad to introduce her to some of my dad's colleagues in the school.He did that too, taking her to the school and introduced her to the other colleagues as a bright young girl with vast knowledge.As usual , she was able to impress everyone with her friendliness and flaring communication, which was not very common with the girls in our rural areas.She was even made to do some speeches in the temples during festivals.

    After a month or so, she came down to my dad's school and spoke to the teachers there about her new business plan. She spoke about starting a finance company and financing the silk weavers that she knew well.She said she had managed 90% of funds and sought the help of the teachers to kick start her business.She promised that within a year's time , she would return all the money she borrowed from all and promised that she would visit our place once a month to update on her business status.

    Some cautious teachers doubted her skill as a financier and wondered if she could manage it well.But, as a whole, many people were ready to help her and as a result, she collected quite a good sum of money. She gave us all a tearful "Thank you very much".

Those were the last words we ever heard from her!