Meenakshi called Meenacchi was my ayah and her love for me transcended my age. She had no teeth, had a large hole in the ear lobe, which accommodated a three quarter inch roll of thin plated gold on festive day! It was embarassing for me when she put both her palms in my face and made "tsu!tsu!" with her lips - the sound of kiss!- even when I grew up to be a young man. For her I was her "Thangam" (gold). She died when I was 17 or 18. Even my mother can not say any word of reprimand to me. Her grandson Chandrakasu ( son of Azhagu (beauty) Meenaccni's daughter) was my play mate in my young days when my days were occupied in climbing up trees and the rest of the activities of village boys. The games we played were marbles, and a game in which a rounded stick of about 12 to 14 inches was used to strike a wooden block of about one and half inches length by an inch diameter thrown at the batsman. One can be caught out as in cricket! There is no photograph of Meenacchi and what all remains is my image of her. I do not even know what happened to her descendants. That is how life is - those who have given you unconditional love, vanish and seldom return, but are live in memory. I can never forget Meenacchi or Azhagu or Chandrakasu.
