Relatives had been visiting Rajeswaramma throughout the month and she had no breathing time. Their arrival increased from the time Lavanya, the third daughter, came home to be delivered of her second child. Relatives had been coming and going in connection with the marriage alliance of the fourth daughter who was doing her P.G.course. 

Lavanya was delivered of her baby in the hospital after a minor operation. The mother-in-law of the eldest daughter, Vijaya, had arrived two days earlier on a courtesy visit. The second daughter-in-law too made a flying visit. Rajeswaramma’s younger brothers and other relatives left after a short stay.

Rajeswaramma’s uncle and aunt came from a far off place. Also her younger uncles and aunts. Rajeswaramma’s second daughter-in-law, Kalavathi, did not recognize them. She did not offer them water to drink nor did she ask them to be seated which pained them. They went searching for the hospital. They were relieved and happy when they saw Rajeswaramma. “Dear niece, I haven’t been well these days. You are healthy and strong though you are seventy, what with your sons and daughters-in-law helping you. They express their wonder whether they would live long like me but never buy medicines for me. Why don’t you take me to a doctor and get me examined and treated?” Veeraiah appealed to her after the usual greetings. Rajeswaramma felt very sorry at the appeal made to her by her uncle. 

He had personally attended the tonsuring ceremony when she was a child. He got silver ankle chains made for her when she was young. He took upon himself the responsibility of celebrating her marriage. He had lived without extending his hand for help from others. The situation changed for him at home four years ago. The sons were indifferent and the daughters-in-law constantly complained.

Rajeswaramma was moved. She hesitated to broach the topic with her husband. He would taunt her, asking whether she had any idea of the expenditure at home. She asked the elder son, Prasad. He said that it was all an unnecessary burden. Veeraiah could understand his mind observing the expression on Prasad’s face. The old man was sorry he bothered Rajeswaramma unnecessarily.

“Uncle! Why don’t you stay for a couple of days? We will go to the doctor,” replied Rajeswaramma for the sake of courtesy. She felt uneasy for having said so, for, if he stayed back she would face a difficult situation. Veeraiah, on his part, hesitated at the offer, for, how could he stay in the house where he was not offered even drinking water on arrival?

“Dear girl! Your house is full of relatives now. I will come after four or five days,” said Veeraiah. Rajeswaramma heaved a sigh of relief for her prestige was saved.

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“Why retain all this junk? Of what use are these articles? Get them weighed and sell them away to the scrap buyer,” said Kalavathi, Rajeswaramma’s second daughter-in-law, with her husband Viswanadham. 

Rajeswaramma heard Kalavathi. Lingaiah, the old man also heard her. They kept silent. Their second son was running the family doing some business. Kalavathi was steadily occupying the place of Rajeswaramma as the mistress of the house. Lingaiah and Rajeswaramma have been changing places during the last four years from the role of parents, father-in-law and mother-in-law into old relatives who had none to look after them.

Lingaiah looked at the attic where the old unused articles were kept. He could not see clearly what were stored on the attic which had turned black because of smoke and neglect. But he knew what were up there. An old charaka, the various implements used in weaving cloth, old clothes, broken cots, old tape used for cots, an old cycle and its parts, an old loom, old wooden rafters, broken chairs etc.

Thinking of them, Lingaiah’s mind went back forty years. That was the time when he wove sarees on the loom and printed colour on the yarn. The cots had got broken as children grew up. His wedding cot which got smaller and smaller turned into the children’s cot and finally reached the attic after serving the family for a long time.

Viswanadham sent his clerk to open the shop and started handing the junk down from the attic to Kalavathi.

The rats that had lived on the attic ran about the house when the cleaning started. Rajeswaramma was surprised at the number of rats living in the attic. An old suitcase slipped from the hands of Kalavathi and fell on the ground with a thud and the lid got separated. There were old clothes in it.

That was Rajeswaramma’s suitcase. Her heart missed a beat. The suit case was the storehouse of the sweet memories of the past! It was a ply wood suitcase bought at the time of her wedding. There were a number of old sarees in it….

“All the useless things are kept on the attic. What will happen if snakes and scorpions make their abode among them?….. Not a single item is of any use.” Kalavathi started expressing her disgust. The parents of Viswamadham pretended as if they did not hear her complaint and remained silent.

Rajeswaramma picked up the suit case, took out the clothes and dusted an old saree which she liked most. In those days they all wore hand woven sarees. There was a special use for those cotton sarees. After serving their time if two old sarees were stitched together, they made a soft quilt. The quilt made a soft bed on the rope cot.

But Rajeswaramma could not come to make a quilt out of this saree. This old saree was the witness for all the auspicious festivities that took place in the family. She wore this saree and washed the feet of the groom at the wedding of her second daughter. During how many festivals, how many deliveries and other such functions she had worn the saree! Veeraiah, her mother’s brother, got the saree specially made for her on behalf of his mother at the time when the house was built. It was a nine yards saree with a beautiful zari border.

Rajeswaramma soaked the saree in water and washed it. The saree was dust laden. So she soaped and washed it again. It was then that the saree came out with its original colour though a little faded.

“O my man! Do you remember when this saree was bought !” She smiled looking at Lingaiah. Lingaiah recognized it and smiled back brightly. Many memories flashed through his mind also. But he looked angry the next moment. Lingaiah had a greet liking for the saree. But she never wore the saree in the nights. That was the reason for his anger.

“Why did you wash it? Do you want to wear it now?” he asked.

“Why? Do you want the world to accuse us saying that your son and daughter-in-law are not buying sarees for me?” Kalavathi reacted sharply.

Vishwanadham piled up all the old and broken articles on the street to be sold to the scrap buyer. The scrap buyer offered to pay a hundred and fifty rupees at three rupees a kilo for them. If they were in a usable condition they cost more than ten thousand rupees. Vishwanadham had no mind to sell them. They were the museum articles of their house.

“What objection did the articles make, Viswanadham ? What will you get with the little money after selling them? Do people sell these household articles? Let them stay in a corner of the attic." suggested Lingaiah.

Viswanadham too felt like retaining them after learning about the amount he would get by selling them. But Kalavathi did not agree. Why should the junk be there coming in the way of storing other things? “If you don’t feel like selling them, give them away to someone if they are useful to them. They will remember you always”, said Kalavathi.

Kalawathi was rolling beedis at home and at the same time ran the business of selling sarees. She was not able to tolerate the rats and other insects on the attic. She was afraid that the old articles would fall on her head whenever the rats ran this way and that.

On two earlier occasions Viswanadham changed his mind to sell the junk on his father raising an objection. The sons and daughters-in-law had distributed among themselves all household items except the junk on the attic. They thought the junk would occupy space.

Veeraiah, the grand old man, returned with a towel covering his head. He found things scattered all over the place and wondered whether he came at the wrong time. Rajeswaramma greeted him.

On seeing the saree on the clothes line he thought that he had seen the saree somewhere. “Where did you get this old saree?” he asked Rajeswaramma.

“That was the saree you presented to me,” replied Rajeswaramma.

It was the sixty count saree with a zari border specially woven by Veeraiah for his niece.

 “Amma (mother)! If you wash the saree two more times in surf it can be used as napkins for the baby of Lavanya,” said Kalavathi addressing her mother-in-law.

If anybody wanted to use it, it will make a good quilt with another saree. But use it as napkins for the baby? It sounded unpleasant to Rajeswaramma.

“When will you bring your grand daughter from the hospital?” Veeraiah asked.

“She comes tomorrow. That’s why the house is being cleaned and washed.” Kalavathi informed that Ravinder wanted to wash the walls and also the attic with dettol or else he would take Lavanya to their house.

“We do not bother whatever happens to the old items after we are gone. Hold your patience for some more time,” said Lingaiah looking at his son Viswanatham and daughter-in-law. 

Kalavathi wanted to retort saying “perhaps we will be gone before you go” but did not speak out. Viswanadham piled all the junk in a corner on the attic and washed the attic with dettol.

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It was the naming ceremony of Lavanya’s second child. Lingaiah’s elder brother’s sons and daughter’s-in-law, mother’s elder sister’s sons and daughters, Rajeswaramma’s father’s elder brother, younger brother, her husband’s sister’s sons and daughter-in-law, son-in-law, brothers and sisters…… many relatives were invited. Vanaja who was doing P.G. in the city and her two friends also came. Rajeswaramma’s third daughter-in-law Madhavi, and Ramesh, her son arrived from the city.

Many relatives recognized Madhavi and greeted her. But Madhavi could not identify any of them. She was confused as to who was who because she stayed in the house of her in-laws for only a few days. As Vanaja was studying in the city her situation was no better.

Gangavva, Lingaiah’s elder brother’s daughter, asked Rajeswaramma “Vanaja has now the looks of a bride. When are you going to celebrate her marriage?” This question became the topic of discussion among everyone. Vanaja was cross with them. Why should they show interest in her marriage? Her marriage was her business. She would marry any time, any body. What had they to do with her marriage?

“They are all our relatives. They should and would be coming to our house for all festivals”. So saying Lingaiah introduced the relatives to Vanaja. She was not interested in these relatives. Her concentration was on her classmates.

Many relatives left after the rituals connected with the birth of the baby. Some old people and those from the side of Lavanya’s mother-in-law remained.

By morning Kalavathi started making complaints again. The tap water was not sufficient. Milk was not sufficient. The house was over-crowded as it was small. Vegetables were insufficient. The vessels too were too few for the crowd….. Viswanadham also felt it a little inconvenient.

Rajeswaramma and Lingaiah heard Kalavathi. Lavanya’s in-laws also heard her. They took it to their heart and threatened to leave the place. Kalavathi got worried. She asserted that she did not mean them at all.

Veeraiah’s eyes moistened. “As long as we are alive we want to live like this. Later your children will not recognize other children of this family,” said Veeeraiah sadly.

Rajeswaramma grew thoughtful. There were a number of old relatives. Help will not the needed from them. The bonds of relationship with these relatives were weakening except for finding grooms for the brides. When marriages took place new bonds grew with the relatives of the grooms or the bride’s families. The present day children did not know the relationship they had with the old relatives. The difference between ages, status and tastes increased the distance between the new generation and the old. Rajeswaramma felt that the bonds with the old relatives will be kept going till the present old generation lived. 

Rajeswaramma took uncle Veeraiah to the doctor. By the time she returned from the doctor having sent her uncle away with the medicines, she found something lacking in the house. The old junk which was piled up at a corner in the attic had disappeared. Gangarajakka had left to her place. The old saree which was dried on the clothes line to be made into a quilt for her grand-daughter was missing. Lavanya had torn that saree into pieces to be used as nappies for her new born child.

“Ayyo! Have you torn the old saree?” Rajeswaramma asked Lavanya, distressed.

“Yes, Naanamma! Mammy told me that you wanted the saree to be torn into pieces to be used for the baby as nappies and that you washed it for that purpose.”

Rajeswaramma sighed sadly. When Veeraiah uncle saw the saree and recognized it she felt she belonged to that house. Looking at the pieces of the saree now she felt she was in the house of strangers.

Praveen, Kalavathi’s second son asked his mother looking at Veeraiah “Ammaa (mammy)...!  who is this old man?"

“He is your father’s mother’s younger brother” replied Kalavathi.

“What do you mean by all that…… father’s mother’s….. younger brother….?” asked Praveen feeling confused.

Kalavathi did not know how to explain it to her son.

“Tataiah to which place do you belong? Vidyasagar, father’s elder brother’s son is in the college, I am told. Why didn’t he come for yesterday’s function? I want to see him. Will you go and send him?” asked Praveen.

Veeraiah did not know what to tell him. If he did not know his own cousin brother, how will the boy know him?

Lingaiah came home and was surprised at the disappearance of the old junk. 

“What happened to all those old items?” shouted Lingaiah. 

He felt that his experiences, his memories and relationships were all swept away.

“Lavanya stays here for three months. The house is crowded. You sleep under the tin roof shed behind the house. It won’t be good for the girl who was delivered of her baby recently if all your relations stay near the mother-in-law (attamma),” said Kalavathi to her in-laws.

Rajeswaramma felt hurt but could do nothing. She collected all her clothes and carried her cot to the tinshed behind the house.

“I’ll get going” said Veeraiah uncle and left. 

Lavanya’s cot-was shifted into the front room.

Original in Telugu published in Vaartha, Telugu Daily, 30 May1999