The muffler with beads...

As I was tackling the evening meal with my limited patience and time .. armed with the iPod on full blast to 'crazy kiya re' I noticed my 9 year old daughter P hovering by the doorway.. 'WHAT' I mouthed to her and she started to talk prompting me to pull off the earphones impatiently. However, going by the serious expression she wore .. this could take a while. Imagine my surprise therefore when she said 'Amma, I really need a muffler!'. Well, for one who runs off to school always 'forgetting' her cap and gloves I thought there was a glimmer of hope. 'Sure' I said, 'lets go to the mall and pick up one later'. But that's not exactly what she had in mind. 'You know.' she said, 'Simone has one with beads and it looks real pretty'. Hmm, a muffler with beads!! 'Well', I said, now a bit impatiently, 'ask her where she got hers and we can get a similar one for you too..' Then came something else.. 'Amma, her mother knit it for her' said P exasperatedly. The next instant she had that really hopeful, little puppy look that she can turn magically on anytime she feels that need for something a little beyond her reach!! 'P dont tell me you want to ask her mother to make one for you' I said still not getting it. 'Well, not exactly' was her rejoinder and then a bit hesitantly, puppy look on full blast now!! 'I asked her mother to show you how and she agreed, so I was wondering if you could knit one for me?' At this point my jaw dropped and P looked at me with hesitation. May be she had overestimated her 'supermom' this time.

This little conversation takes me back all of 30 years to my school days at a very strict Roman Catholic Convent girls school. We started needle work and knitting in grade 4 and in grade 5 were expected to knit a muffler. I started with great enthusiasm however, that was the only skill I had as far as needle work and knitting were concerned-enthusiasm. We started with knit and pearl 60 stitches and I choose a nice sky blue (little knowing that it would look a terrible shade of blue gray when dirty!) I must have knit all of 15 to 20 lines when the thing looked rather unlike any of my class mates' handiwork. I think I had lost so many stitches in the process that the thing had holes and a class mate even asked if that was a pattern. So I did the only thing I could, stuffed it to the bottom of my bag and tried to forget it was there. But these things never are so easily forgotten. One fine Saturday, about 3 months later, the teacher announced that by the Monday she wanted us to hand in the mufflers with our names and roll numbers so she could grade them for the final exam!! Oh Oh!! What would I do. I tried not to think about it all of Saturday and Sunday morning too. I pulled it out of my bag (was in a really sorry state) on Sunday evening with tears welling up in my eyes. Everyone at home had not a clue of what happened. My athai said 'don't worry I'll teach you how to knit well' amma too offered some sympathetic words.. But they were not so sympathetic when I told them that a 2 ft long muffler had to go to school with me the next day or I would FAIL!! They were so mad. Why did you not tell earlier, the whole weekend you kept quiet.. etc etc.. Finally my mother and aunt (who are both expert knitters) sat up late into the night and knit this one for me. I will be forever indebted to them for saving me the shame of giving in that horrible looking creation of mine which no one on earth would ever call a muffler!!

And here I was 30 years later with my daughter looking hopefully at me expecting me to knit her one!! Well, as they say the ghosts come back to haunt us, don't they!!!!