Words can be time machines, sometimes. It is strange how a single word can evoke memories of bygone years...and recreate a scene from the past so vividly that you relive that moment once again.
For me, it is the word 'affection'. . The mere mention of the word brings forth memories of a crisp winter morning, of gentle warn sunshine and dewy grass. I grew up at a home built within an orchard with numerous trees..mango, guava, custard apple and chickoo, tall coconut and betel nut palms, and vast open grassy spots shadowed by the trees. My grandfather was a nature lover and the orchard was the only reason he bought that particular plot for building his dream house. I was perhaps four years old then.
On the property, we had an elaborate cowshed with 10-15 of large Jersey cows. At one end of the cowshed was the caretaker's small hut where he lived with his family. His wife did chores at our house and his kids were our playmates. At the other end was a small room, which served as my grandfather's study. It was in this room that I started learning my alphabets and numbers, my rhymes and stories. And also my love for all that God has created, plants and animals. Little that I realize then, and I do it now, that my personality was a perfect genetic replica of his.
My grandfather tended the cows himself, feeding them, cleaning them and milking them. I used to be with him during his rounds at the cowshed, observing him and asking this and that. All my childish 'whys' were patiently answered.
It on one such morning that I observed a cow licking its calf, with its tail around it, as if holding its offspring in a tender hug. I then asked my grandfather " What is the cow doing to the calf? why is it licking it all over?" And he said " Affection. What you see is affection.". It was the first day I heard that word and it created such a beautiful picture that the scene, that morning and that fragment of my childhood has become memorable. As memorable as the person who introduced me to the word "affection".
