When not in Calcutta, Ba usually divided her time between her bungalow in Ahmedabad and her sister Shardaben's apartment in Bombay. The former was more of a holiday home, she never really lived there. These three spaces in Calcutta, Bombay and Ahmedabad are where most my memories with Ba were made. Shardaben's apartment was a wonderland; but more on that in another post.
All these three homes had room specially for the cupboards, or kabaat, as we say in Gujarati. Ergo, kabaat-vaaro room!
The Calcutta apartment wasn't a big one and hence a couple of kabaats spilled over to the bedroom as well. And these were the solid steel almirahs that Godrej once made. One or two were pretty fancy with a single door!
Every kabaat came with its unique 'lock-unlock' sound and hinge screeches. Over the years I knew exactly which kabaat was being opened, locked or sometimes even banged from two rooms away. Some kabaats were used on a regular basis, some once in a few months and one or two were used only annually or even once in two years. The latter almost always had a heavy piece of furniture parked in front while it turned into a steely brown backdrop of the room.
And now over to the contents. Let's say that the half a dozen cupboards had enough stuff to fill up three seasons of the home section of a departmental store and a swag lifestyle store put together! Not to forget the ''Miscellaneous'', this section could fill up the utility and toiletry pouches of a hundred hotel rooms. And all this is after all the clothes of the family are kept aside! From metres of cotton and silk to dinner napkins. From thaalis fit for a king's meal to dessert spoons. From vintage iron boxes full of old photographs to tiny plastic containers bought in dozens. From hand painted ceramic crockery, wrapped in newspaper to copper lotaas. From decades old files full of old letters and some bills to unused picture diaries. From hand-dyed handloom and khadi home linen to plastic sheet covers. From measuring tapes to paper clips. Not to forget the spools of colourful threads, needle sets, buttons and thimbles. She also had a box of ribbons and strings along with cut pieces of cloth.
Whenever we needed something out of the blue for school and we remembered about it only after the stationery stores were closed, Ba's treasure never let us down! One square foot of red cloth, aluminum foil, two metres black ribbon, large envelopes; no matter what, she had them all there, somewhere!
Ba had her world stored safely in the Godrej almirahs. She spoke little. But when she opened a cupboard in front of you, it meant that she gave you a tiny peek into her world. And every time she did so in front of me, meant I would get richer by a Staedtler pencil or a vintage postcard or an embroidered napkin or just a few coloured buttons. And all this went into my own kabaat.
All these three homes had room specially for the cupboards, or kabaat, as we say in Gujarati. Ergo, kabaat-vaaro room!
The Calcutta apartment wasn't a big one and hence a couple of kabaats spilled over to the bedroom as well. And these were the solid steel almirahs that Godrej once made. One or two were pretty fancy with a single door!
Every kabaat came with its unique 'lock-unlock' sound and hinge screeches. Over the years I knew exactly which kabaat was being opened, locked or sometimes even banged from two rooms away. Some kabaats were used on a regular basis, some once in a few months and one or two were used only annually or even once in two years. The latter almost always had a heavy piece of furniture parked in front while it turned into a steely brown backdrop of the room.
And now over to the contents. Let's say that the half a dozen cupboards had enough stuff to fill up three seasons of the home section of a departmental store and a swag lifestyle store put together! Not to forget the ''Miscellaneous'', this section could fill up the utility and toiletry pouches of a hundred hotel rooms. And all this is after all the clothes of the family are kept aside! From metres of cotton and silk to dinner napkins. From thaalis fit for a king's meal to dessert spoons. From vintage iron boxes full of old photographs to tiny plastic containers bought in dozens. From hand painted ceramic crockery, wrapped in newspaper to copper lotaas. From decades old files full of old letters and some bills to unused picture diaries. From hand-dyed handloom and khadi home linen to plastic sheet covers. From measuring tapes to paper clips. Not to forget the spools of colourful threads, needle sets, buttons and thimbles. She also had a box of ribbons and strings along with cut pieces of cloth.
Whenever we needed something out of the blue for school and we remembered about it only after the stationery stores were closed, Ba's treasure never let us down! One square foot of red cloth, aluminum foil, two metres black ribbon, large envelopes; no matter what, she had them all there, somewhere!
Ba had her world stored safely in the Godrej almirahs. She spoke little. But when she opened a cupboard in front of you, it meant that she gave you a tiny peek into her world. And every time she did so in front of me, meant I would get richer by a Staedtler pencil or a vintage postcard or an embroidered napkin or just a few coloured buttons. And all this went into my own kabaat.
