🌞 Summer of '73. Story of a heroine!👩‍👦

Part 1/4 

And it all began with a 🧷!

🥵 Summers in Visakhapatnam (~Vizag) can be scorching! 🔥💦

👨‍🏭 ✍️ My father was an engineer and was working for Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels (BHPV). He was the rice-winner in the family.🌾 We were assigned the company's living quarters. E-27, Type III, BHPV Township. Oh ya, wedded to my dad when she was 15, my matriculation failed mother, was "just a housewife" AT THAT POINT IN TIME. 🤗

🌞 So, on a hot tuesday afternoon in the summer of May 1973, having had her lunch, lying on her bed was my 22-year-old mother engrossed in a telugu novel. It's her siesta time after all her morning's work. Her 'mangalsutra' (మంగళసూత్రం) is seen dangling by her neck onto the bed and resting nicely. Several safety pins hang by her gold chain of her mangalsutra. Those little loopy, brilliantly shining stainless steel pendants 🧷! మంగళసూత్రం లో పిన్నీసులు. Well, some of the Telugu housewives of yore used to keep their 🧷s safe, by dangling them onto their mangalsutra. (A mangalsutra is an ornament worn by a married woman).

🧷 It's called 'safety pin' for a reason because the sharp point of the pin can be safely fastened by a clasp using a simple spring mechanism (~ Walter Hunt's fascinating 18th Century invention!). At home, mother used 🧷 to fasten the loose end of her saree (~sari) to her blouse on her shoulder and making sure the 🧷 is kept concealed underneath the blouse even as it clasps the saree. It's a draping hack! 😎 And there's a method to it that even a 4-year-old would know how to do that! Well at least i knew! 👍 How smart of me! 👏When you lose a button on your shirt, ok two, a 🧷 is what you use to fasten your shirt! At other times, the 🧷 was routinely used by mom to gently remove an odd thorn stuck in my foot; or remove black tar stuck in my finger nails using some kerosene! The kerosene acts as a degreasing agent and loosens the tar. Tar is a thick black sticky substance that is used for laying roads. Don't even ask! 🤦‍♀️Walter Hunt may not have imagined the several spin-off uses of a 🧷! ...especially in the way a middle class Indian uses it!
As a 4-year old, i was always fascinated by the 🧷 and that pic of me (@ 1yr)...! 🤣

Anyway, back to the story, his 1-year old little sister is fast asleep tucked between the pillows. So the kid is now all by himself. Not getting any attention (~at least for the time being), he keeps tugging at his mom's mangalsutra diligently to knock-off a 🧷 even as his mom keeps gently pushing away his tiny hands. It's game on. After a few attempts he manages to unlock a 🧷 to his delight. Having got his new toy, he starts pricking the mattress around him – making tiny little holes into it! His mom sees it. It's her boy having some fun. No big deal. She goes back to her reading. Pretty harmless. Thus far...! 😳

Part 2/4

🅱️➕ A mom's bloody siesta!