1.21.2004
To make up for yesterday's full day, we did little to nothing on this rainy, windy Wednesday. My grandmother loves making dresses, socks, baby clothes, you name it. She is a sewing machine! Well, not literally. Anyway, the morning was spent dashing off to the Naval Market, the Naval Headquarters' shopping area where family members of the Pakistani Navy can conveniently pick up anything from fresh chicken to kitchen supplies to buttons. My grandmother's agenda that day was to allow us to choose the color of yarn we preferred for the wool hats she was going to knit for us. My sister and I chose two colors each because skilled seamstress and knitter that she is, my grandmother intended not only to make multi-colored, winter hats, but to make them reversible!
The next outing through the drizzle was planned by my aunt and my cousin who took us to Jinnah Super and Supermarket where we picked out some traditional souvenirs, some buttery-soft pashmina scarves, and some pirated CDs and DVDs. We came home for lunch and then went to visit various family members around town, like this guy, the newest of 32 cousins:
By evening, we were enjoying one of my absolute favorite dishes - haleem
- at my grandfather's house when the following exchange took place:
My grandfather began, "So, Baji, have you ever been to London?"
"Yes," I replied, "many times. Although, I am going to Scotland and Ireland soon with my friend and I've never been there."
He nodded his head absently, not really paying attention, and posed the question, "Have you ever been to Wales?"
With a stunned look on my face and after a long pause, I replied, "Uh, yes."
He cleared his throat and asked in a booming voice, "Baji, have you ever heard of a town called Merthyr Tydfil?"
The stunned look turned to shock, the pause lengthened, and then I burst out laughing, "Uh, yes. I was BORN there!"
Totally ignoring me, he continued, "It's got one of the strangest spellings of a name I have ever come across. I learned about it a long time ago. M-e-r-t-h-y-r T-y-d-f-i-l." He noted my look of total disbelief. "Seriously! I can show you where it is on my atlas."
My mother cut in as she gasped for breath after laughing so hard, "The only reason you know about that town is because I wrote letters to you from there when I lived there and your granddaughter was born there! You didn't learn about it from school or reading about it. It has nothing distinguishing or extraordinary about it!"
He smiled contently, "Yes, it has quite an odd spelling." baj
@ 8:19 PM
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