Sunday Musings: The Happy Family

        Humans may not have conquered nature but beauty parlours have travelled quite some distance in that direction.
We struck an acquaintance during our train journey from Paris to Amsterdam. It all started when after almost an hour-long silent travel, she took out a can and suddenly asked, “you like beerr?” Her strong stress on the letter ‘r’ betrayed her South European origin. As we talked further, Italian words kept intruding into her faltering English.
By a strange coincidence we were both booked in the same hotel in Amsterdam and decided to meet at dinner.
“A warrm evening”, she remarked as we occupied our chairs under subdued lights in the hotel restaurant. I nodded assent.

“How many children you have?” she asked as we settled down after ordering our drinks. This was not surprising as Italians have a well-known family orientation. I told her about our two children, their ages, their present educational status and their future plans. It was only customary that I too enquire about her progeny and did so.
“I have ten,” she said zippily. It took me a few moments before I could absorb the revelation. Having been long exposed to small family norms in India I did not know whether to compliment or sympathize. However, a furtive look at the contented expression on her face gave me the clue.
“Then you are a happy mother” I remarked. She suddenly grew serious. Her forehead furrowed. I wondered whether my face reading had been wrong.
“No”, she said with visible remorse. “Only two daughters. Other all boys. Non buono…not good. Only daughters help in house”. Obviously, the custom of dowry was not prevalent in Italy, I inferred. If she were an Indian, a prosperous future was assured.
“Yes”, I said feebly, neither showing enthusiasm for her argument nor wanting to disagree.
“But one daughter still live with us”, she said brightening up, “other married”.
“Oh, I see”, I was groping for appropriate

non-committal words.
“My daughter have six children”, she added with matronly pride.
She didn’t look to be a mother of ten children in the first place. Now to learn that she also had six grand-children was rather too much for me to conceal my disbelief. She perhaps understood and offered justification.
“Not her fault. They come too fast. One year one, two year two, three year three, and like that”, she said snapping her fingers.
“So, you are a grandmother?” was all I could manage to say.
“Yes”, she said now almost teasingly, “my most young is equal age with my daughter’s first”.
I was almost feeling unpatriotic at sharing the table with someone who had mothered such a large family. As if sensing my discomfiture, and apparently enjoying it, she added gleamily, “and in three month my daughter gets her seventh.”
“I hope she gets twins”, I said, almost involuntarily.
“Grazci”, she exulted, and then raising her wine glass she said, “salute”.

{Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Raj Kadyan}