'The Granny'

The European managers who had been managing the rubber estate where i was born were either from England or Scotland (though at that age and time,i didn't even know where these two countries were on earth!)
These managers were referred to as'dorai' by our folks and they were greatly respected. These Europeans ,apart from managing the plantation, had also made sure that the estate workers' children were educated.
They allowed the building of a Tamil school in the estate and as i recall,they also were responsible for the day care centres in those days.These day care centres came into force to assist working mothers in the estate.One was for the Tamil kids and another for the Malay kids.The Tamil section of the day care centre was run by the 'Loose'sgranny .She was a tyrant who ruled the roost at the day care centre and the mothers were at her mercy!
She tolerated no nonsense from the young moms who occasionally forgot to provide milk powder or pack some dry biscuits for their kids.When this happens at times,she would ramble on and on about it to every tom and dick who had the misfortune to pass by her place!And i was privy to all her ramblings very often bcoz ,as the estate's cheif mandoor's daughter,i could walk in and out of the centre whenever i wanted to.
The minute she sees me,she would call me in and offer her wooden bench to sit upon,and start her rambling.She would point at all the kids whose moms were too uncaring that morning to pack food for them and she would always end her rambling with one single question to those moms,'why bear children when u cant pack at least the leftovers from last night's dinner,ha?'
At first i too repeated this to some of those moms when i happen to see them and got angry retorts in response,asking me to mind my bznez as i was still a kid ,and also that tyrant is a liar who cheated on their one ringgit monthly payment but couldn't make black coffee and give some dry biscuits which were included in the agreement!I dutifully reported the response to the granny who in turn bad mouthed their character as spineless drunkards who were too weak kneed to tell this to her own face.Her angry outbursts always provided me with some luscious gossip which i used to taunt my enemies when they crossed my path,as some of their baby siblings were the granny's charges at the day care centre.
But one day i found out about the granny's secret 'double personality'! I used to wonder why she always stressed on mothers not bringing the left overs to the centre and i was confused how can babies eat left over rice and curry at such a young age.Are they not supposed to drink milk and milk only?But the answer was revealed to me quit accidentally one fateful afternoon when the school toilet had no water and i was forced to go to the back of the daycare centre with my friends to ease ourselves at the drain.
As i finished and stood up to peek inside the centre through the window,i saw the granny rummaging through the baskets belonging to the babies and taking out food and eating it!I was shocked and surprised of this misconduct but kept my mouth shut ,my mind already scheming how to use this to get that precious stone the granny had in her beetle leave pouch,which she claimed was a real gemstone from India! I liked that small,tiny,red stone,shaped like an asam koh,the instant the Loose waved it rite under my nose one day.
As it was temporarily,mind it ,temporarily 'stolen' from his granny,he only allowed me to touch it once,not twice,and my friends were equally in love with its beauty...

I was very happy with this secret and as i walked back to school, i started to whistle happily
and my friends joined in with my happy mood,so there we walked,all holding hands and whistling looney tunes,without a care in the world,thinking about the gemstone and how it could bring us luck!( we never knew about gemstones and their powers,as we do these days,all i wanted was to make it mine.)

But later when i went to the granny with my info about her eating habits,she just shrugged off her shoulders and said,'so what if i ate,since i clean the shit and urine of their kids,ha?And lookhow much they pay?a measely one ringgit and that too is outstanding for a few months now! her outburst got me grinning sheepishly and walking out' with my tails between my butt' and down the drain went my dream of owning the gemstone!